The Demon's Deal
by Springtime Bonnie
Summary: A high demon of Hell comes to collect on his end of a deal made during Rosalina's infancy. In an attempt to unseat the King of Hell, she is taken as his bride. However, her sister and friends will not let her be taken without a fight. The group must fight through a series of tests, and through Hell itself to rescue her. Will they win, or will they become Hell's newest residents?
1. Ch 1: 20 Year-old Deal

"So you two have been together _how long?"_ Daisy asked of Rosalina, who was standing behind Mario in the recliner. Heaven was on the end of the couch to their right, sitting beside Waluigi and Daisy. Near them were the remaining friends, all surprised to hear of the couple's engagement. Mario really had just proposed-waiting for Rosalina's birthday to do so, so the friends were just now getting the announcement.

"About four years," Heaven replied with a widening grin, "It's about time, too. They've known each other forever." They never liked to talk about their relationship, it was more a desire to just keep their own doings with one another-keeping their relationship from outside involvement.

Mario felt Rosalina's arms creep around his neck. He looked up to her soft brown eyes and drew a smile as he exhaled slowly. The friends gazed at them for a minute before anyone spoke up. "I'm happy for you guys," Iggy declared, earning a nod from the others.

Relationships among the friends had really improved over time. Sure, the friends hadn't always been the best of friends to Sapphire's sister, but they've slacked. Mario hadn't thought much of them, but not due to any of that, but rather for their own vanity during Sunset High. Slowly, he was growing more approving of them.

"You never showed any affection around us," Waluigi raised up an eyebrow and tilted his head to the right, "How come? You never told us you two were dating."

Rosalina turned her eyes to him and lifted her shoulders up, "Well we weren't sure how you guys would react. I mean 'Rosalina and Mario are dating' seems like something you guys would have turned into a joke." Waluigi curled the right corner of his lip backwards and sighed.

"But that was before." Rosalina gave him an approving smile and nodded in reply.

"I know. The major thing is, though, is that we wanted to keep our relationship to ourselves. It was no one else's business what happens in our relationship. People like to involve themselves in a couple's life, trying to interject during arguments or hooking people up-over and over-I think you guys can agree to that." She smirked as Daisy and Waluigi looked to Heaven, whose face reddened.

"Yes we do know about people meddling in someone else's relationship."

"You can't say it's a bad thing," Heaven laughed. Daisy looked over to Waluigi, who hung his arm protectively around her shoulders.

"True."

The unfortunate thing was Rosalina's parents weren't even here. Heaven planned a big party, Mario was finally proposing, and _neither_ parent was around. Luigi had himself holed up in his office while Peach was-god only knows where-Mario assumed she was off shopping or flirting about somewhere.

They didn't _seem_ coldhearted, sure they ignored their daughter on occasion, but Mario saw them at times where they loved both their daughters more than anything else in the world-and Luigi of all people truly was the last person to miss something that either of them did. So his being absent for Rosalina's birthday just seemed too uncharacteristic for him.

Rosalina, nor Heaven, complained any about their parents' absence, so Mario didn't say anything of it. As his eyes drifted to Mr. Star's office door, which was conveniently cracked open to reveal the man sitting at his desk, he couldn't help but to think maybe Luigi really wasn't as absent as he seemed.

Thinking of dragging the guy out, Mario stood up-to Rosalina's dismay. "Where you going, Mario?"

"Just checking on your dad." The sisters looked over to the office door with a shrug while the friends exchanged concerned expressions. Deciding not to stick around for their questions regarding Luigi's avoidance of the celebration and announcements, Mario moved hastily to Luigi's door. He knocked twice on the door and looked through the crack. "Mr. Star? You okay in there?"

"I'm fine…do you need something?"

"I thought it might be best for you to come out and spend some time with your daughter. It is her birthday-I hope I'm not crossing a line with the suggestion." He heard the man take a deep breath, then hesitate for several curious moments.

"That's fine, I'd rather stay in here. She knows I love her, I don't need to be out there."

"Well why not? Can I ask?" He was growing frustrated with the man's disinterest. Behind him, he heard Rosalina calling him over, but he was insistent on Luigi coming out.

"It isn't something I can get into." Mario slowly pushed the door open to see Luigi further. He hesitated upon seeing the man. Luigi was leaning back in his chair, his glossy eyes were glued to the clock on his wall. In his right hand he clutched a small wooden cross, his thumb was running over the fine wood frantically while the tip was gripped tightly between his forefinger and middle finger. The man's usual calm and pleasant demeanor was heavy and his expression was stony. Luigi looked over to him, looking as though he'd just aged decades in seconds. "I can't go out there right now. You wouldn't understand."

"With all respect-she needs her dad. Besides, Peach's god knows where."

"Peach's at church."

"Church?" He raised an eyebrow as Luigi closed his eyes and began to mutter. It didn't make sense that Peach would be at church, but Luigi wouldn't lie about that. "Why's she at church? Are you guys going to do this when Rosalina turns 21?"

Luigi slowly stood, nearly stumbling over as he did so. Mario felt an urge to race over and help the man up, but remained standing in place as Luigi turned his eyes to him. "What you must understand, and I know that you know, is that I love my daughter. Above all else, I love my family.

"Then what is the problem?" He glanced over his shoulder to see Heaven making her way across the room now.

"Guilt. Something I can't stop from happening, a case I've been working on for the last twenty years-trying to find a way around."

Mario was taken aback, and Heaven stared at her father amid the confusion. He tried to solve Luigi's riddle, but could think of nothing. "Dad quit being vague," Heaven put her hands to her hips and furrowed her brow. "He and mom have been like this for weeks now, Mario. I can't explain it and they won't talk about it. It's all right though, missing out on one birthday doesn't kill them-I guess…"

"I'm sorry," whispered the man, "I'm truly sorry." He slowly guided the two out and slunk back into his office. "If you two knew, if she knew, you'd never…" Mario gazed on in bewilderment, huffing over the man's inability to at least come out. He met Rosalina's eyes and relaxed when she turned up a smile at him.

"Come on guys leave dad alone," Rosalina waved them over and closed her eyes, "He's not doing anything wrong. At least he's _home_."

"Rosalina was telling us why you two don't show affection in person," Mona chimed, "I think you should!" Mario chuckled and curled his mouth into a subtle smirk.

"We show affection all the time." They were more private in their relationship than, say, Waluigi and Daisy were. All that mattered to them was the love the other had for them. The world could know they were together, but they weren't going to make a show of their relationship.

"Yeah we just don't show off, but since you asked…" Rosalina stood up and moved over to Mario. He met her halfway in the room and looked into her eyes as she hugged his neck. "Just this once." He hugged her back and gave her a gentle peck on the lips. "I love you, Mario."

"Love you." The friends smiled at them and Daisy head moved to Waluigi's shoulder.

The clock on the fireplace stuck twelve for noon and began to chime out the hours. Heaven walked over, grinning wide, applauding them. Suddenly, a great silence took the room, and all eyes unconsciously fell onto the clock as everyone listened to the singular gongs.

He felt Rosalina's body tense and looked over to see a look of distress on her face. "Rosalina, what's wrong?"

"'I'm not sure," Rosalina muttered, "I feel sick all of a sudden." She put her hand over her left temple, moaning lightly. Heaven looked over with great concern, asking if she needed to grab Rosalina a cold rag. "No, I'm fine. Just…"

A thunderous roar rang out through the sky outside the house, causing all the friends to jump up and look out the window. It was a perfectly clear day, no rain or clouds were seen, so where was the thunder coming from?

Rosalina stumbled backwards, gripping her head with both hands, her groaning increased and Heaven ran over to throw her arms around Rosalina and help her towards the couch. "I'm going to find some Ibuprofen or something. Dad! Dad!"

The older man remained still in his office, emitting only a sound of quiet sobs. Mario felt a rush of terror and looked over to Rosalina protectively. There was a strong sense of danger in the air, and everyone could feel it. Typically Rosalina would be the first to be ready to fight whatever threat was coming near her family, but she was too out of it now.

As he started to make his way towards her and Heaven, a tremendous force blew him off his feet. Mona let out a started scream and he looked up to see billows of smoke and fire spreading out from the ground. "What in the hell?" Mario scratched his head and slowly picked himself up off the ground.

Heaven stared at the fire with wide eyes and clutched her sister harder. "I got you Rosalina." Heaven looked over to Mario, questioning him. "What's going on!"

"I don't know!"

From the circle of fire and smoke rose a sinister figure in a black hood and cloak. He had a young looking face with dark black eyes. His nose was long and straight, his cheeks were flat and his face shaped in an acute angle from the chin. His yellow hair flowed out over his shoulders in waves. "What in hell, indeed," the man belted out a deep laugh and narrowed his eyes.

Rosalina's head flew up and her eyes met his, she growled and rose to her feet. "Who are you?" She challenged. Heaven called for her to get back, possibly feeling the same sense of danger as Mario did. He tried to work his way over to Rosalina, but the man turned a dangerous glare onto him and stretched out his hand.

A sudden clenching sensation gripped his throat and lifted him off the ground. He gasped out, kicking his feet through the air, trying to breathe. "Mario!" Rosalina screamed. "You let go of him!" She ran forward, but froze the second the man cocked a smirk at her. She struggled in place, looking down at her feet as she jerked her body in attempt to move forward.

"Is that any way to greet your guest of honor?" Mario was suddenly flung across the room. His back struck the couch and his hand rubbed at his throat. He bent upwards, breathing heavily as he glared at this strange man.

What was going on? Who was this, and why was this happening? Was he some sort of demon?

The man put his hands to his chest and closed his eyes, "I fear I've insulted. It was not my intent. For you see, I'm merely here to make good on a twenty year debt." The second his fiery eyes fell onto Rosalina, Mario forced himself to his feet and started moving towards this person. "I wouldn't." A scythe appeared in the man's right hand, his eyes narrowed and his mouth fell into a frown. "I can kill you with the flick of my wrist." He stepped over the pillar of fire, still locking eyes with Rosalina. "I am here to make good on my part of the deal."

"What deal?" Rosalina hissed.

"A deal that saved your life." The man stretched out his hand, chuckling evilly as he caressed Rosalina's right cheek. "What desperation will drive a person to do, it is amazing." Rosalina pulled her head back and Heaven scowled, swatting at the man's arm.

"Don't you dare touch my sister. I know what you are! You're a demon."

The man's eyebrows shot up and his lips turned into a sly smirk. "Ding-ding, give yourself a point."

Mario heard Daisy whisper a suggestion, "Satan?" The friends were all terrified, each frozen with uncertainty. "You can't be the devil…"

"Ah no, I am not Lucifer." The man lifted a finger and shook his head. "You are close, however. I am Lucifer's right hand, his greatest warrior in hell. My name is Samil, and I am the Fallen. I am the Angel of Death, and I have come to claim my bride."

"What?!" Heaven shrieked and held onto Rosalina with more force. "You will not do anything to my sister! She's not going with you."

Sinjin stepped beside the two, sneering at the man with a rush of hatred, "I'm not letting that happen. No way."

"You think you have a choice?" As the man laughed, the friends made their way over, each ready to help the sisters out if needed. "Well, as much as I love a good challenge…Rosalina will be mine."

"I am no one's," Rosalina growled, "I'm staying here with my fiancé. You can't make me go with you! I'll fight you if I have to."

"Honestly? Mortals against the Angel of Death? It's 'cute'." He looked into her eyes and lifted his hand, flicking his wrist upwards. Mario and Heaven fell back and Rosalina stiffened. Her eyes began to fade and her body relaxed.

"Rosalina!" the two cried out. They watched in horror as a black mark appeared on Rosalina's forehead. "No! You won't!" Mario pushed himself up as Rosalina began a slow walk towards the fiery hole.

Samil flicked his eyes over, stunning both Heaven and Mario into a forced hesitation. "With my bride, I will finally unseat Lucifer as the King of Hell. I am not afraid of mere mortals."

"Y-You should be," Heaven strained, "Let my sister go!"

Mario called out to Rosalina as she reached the rim of the burning pit. Sweat formed on his forehead, his heart began pounding as he attempted to run for her. She couldn't hear him. What kind of mind control did he have her under? "Rosie please!"

"She's mine," Laughed the dark angel. Samil walked to the rim of the pit and placed his hand on Rosalina's arm. This only increased Mario's rage, but Heaven was the one now fervently cursing the demon.

As the two began to sink into the burning pit, Mario felt his hold break. Empowered and determined to get Rosalina back, he and Heaven ran for the blaze. "Guys!" Daisy screamed, "What are you doing!"

"Saving my sister!" Heaven screamed. "I'm not letting him have her! I don't care if he is a demon!"

"You can't fight him off alone!" With that, Daisy followed in after the two of them. Waluigi and Mona screamed out for Daisy, rushing in after her. Iggy, of course, panicked over Mona's plunging in after Daisy, and dove in. Rango, feeling left out, and feeling like he wanted to help out somehow, ran in after them.

Just as Rango flung himself in, the flames and smoke began to dissipate, leaving only the scorched ground. The front door opened and Peach stepped into the house, her face wet with tears and her chest heaving.

"T-They're gone," Luigi wept from the office. Peach's eyes widened at his words and she immediately looked to the blackened carpet. "They went in after-oh god, Rosalina…Heaven…" She dropped to her knees and began pawing at the scorched ground, screaming for her children. "It's no use."

Her body grew heavy and her hands moved over her eyes as her tears fell from her. Screams and cries echoed from her lips, filling the house. "My babies…why…"

"Heaven and Mario went to get her back from him. From Samil. Rosalina'a friends followed them. I…don't know what to do…" Peach lifted her head and looked to the office where Luigi was standing in the doorway. His shoulders were slumped, his face sunken, and his eyes were staring towards the ground.

She pushed herself up, looking for someone to blame, and lunged at him while screaming at the top of her lungs. "This is all your fault, Luigi!" He grabbed her wrists as she tried to punch his chest multiple times, still screaming. "Your fault!"

Once out of energy, Peach fell onto his chest, drenching him with her tears. Luigi turned his sorrowful eyes towards the ground and closed his eyes.

"I know…"


	2. Ch 2: Hell

Holding his forearms in front of his face, bracing for whatever inevitable impact was coming their way, Mario listened only to the screams of fright from the others as they traveled down the impenetrable tunnel of flames. All around them he could hear the howling of tormented souls and the screeching of demons laughing mercilessly at their victims.

Beside him, Heaven had the same pose, but she was glaring at the end of the tunnel with a ferocious determination. She seemed greatly unaware that her friends had followed in after them.

"How long is this tunnel!" Heaven shouted angrily. The heat dried Mario's skin, forcing sweat to bring moisture to him. He never thought about what Hell would be like until now, and now he was more anxious that it would be a simple desert.

"I don't know, but if we're lost in a desert, I'm not going to be thrilled. I don't want to waste time trying to find Rosalina." He looked over his shoulders to see the friends looking up at the sky traveling further and further away. "I think they were expecting a portal too."

"Who?"

"Your friends."

"What?!" Heaven looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened tremendously. She let out a deep, angry shout, catching their attention. "What the hell do you think you're doing! You weren't supposed to come!"

"Well I don't know about the others, but I wanted to help you guys!" Daisy called out. "You can't just go chasing after the angel of death alone, you know."

"Shit…"

Mario turned his eyes back in time to see the exit to the flames, along with ground just beneath it. "Brace yourselves! I see ground!" Heaven snapped her gaze back down and the rest erupted in a loud, collective scream. He closed eyes and tensed as his body shot out from the tunnel. Within seconds, he crashed into hard rock, but was somehow uninjured as if he'd only fallen a mere foot.

Dust flew over as the rest crashed around him. He pushed himself up with a groan, then helped Heaven to her feet. His eyes drifted up to the fiery tunnel above them and Heaven's gaze followed along with his. "It felt like we were falling for miles," she muttered, "I would have thought we'd come out of that with more than just scrapes and bruises…"

"Yeah. So, aside from the obvious answer of Hell. Where _in_ Hell are we?" He brushed the soot and dirt off his shirt and glanced around. The temperature had fallen, but was still incredibly warm.

As far as the eye could see, he was observing bare plains with cracked ground and fire trailing a foot out of the cracks. What looked to be sparks, or flaming leaves, was drifting from the red skies surrounding them.

There were no clouds, no sun or moon, but the entire place was light up with some sort of red light. Mario lifted his forearm up, looking down as one of the falling sparks touched to his arm, leaving a painless black smudge and smoke that drifted up into the sky. He swept it off and muttered under his breath.

"Flaming snow. So this is hell. Looks more like a paradise of fire."

"But that's deceiving to the eyes I'm sure," Daisy replied calmly, "Hell has got to be all about deceit and lies. What we see may not always be the truth."

"But it is," someone answered. Mario put up his guard and turned around to see a near middle-aged looking man walking towards them. The man was wearing a white shirt with long brown jeans. He also had a black trench coat that circled around his legs but fluttered with each step. His hands were in the pockets of this coat. He had a stubbly cleft chin, high cheekbones, a small curved nose and short forehead. The man's thin eyebrows clung to his deep brown eyes. His short, wavy brown hair seemed to breeze in the wind of his walk. "Everything you see is the true Hell, but you're also outside of the various networks."

"He's so handsome," Mona whispered. Heaven had her guard up as well and stepped beside Mario, demanding this man tell them who he was. The man closed his eyes and lifted his broadened shoulders up.

"Who I am isn't important. What is important is, none of you belong here." His eyes opened halfway and his lips fell into a frown. "You followed Samil here."

Mario stepped forward, barking out his words as he pointed his thumb to his chest, "That man took my fiancé. I plan to get her back."

"Have you ever heard the legend of Hercules? And I don't mean the Disney version the Earth moviemakers tell." Mario raised an eyebrow as the man folded his arms. "Hercules was the only man ever to come to hell and _successfully_ take back a person dragged away. That, of course, was done by the devil himself. How do you expect to do the same? Many have tried. Many have failed."

"We won't fail," Heaven remarked, "I'm getting Rosalina back. One way or another." The man slowly nodded and looked up to the flaming tunnel.

"Yes, well, she was taken in response to a deal that was made twenty years ago."

"So what? We can't do anything?"

"Ah but I didn't say that." The man flashed a toothy smirk and lifted a finger. "The dealmaker cannot back out of it-though should he find a loophole, which I doubt-then there is nothing the dealmaker can do. The Angel of Death's error was not accounting for outside sources. It is possible for you to _try_ , but you're still just mortals going up against the second most powerful demon in Hell. Should, however, this woman become his bride-together they can destroy Lucifer and take over Hell. It would seem that is what Samil wishes, and the hidden reason for the deal that he made."

Mario swayed to the right, looking at a group of falling sparks blowing in a circle and flying off into the distance. He crossed his arms and exhaled slowly, struggling to keep patient. "I don't get it. What deal are you talking about!" The man pocketed his hands once more and walked past the group, his brow furrowed as he looked up to the sky.

"Hell's time passes much quicker than Earth years. What can be one year on Earth could be a decade in Hell. Twenty of your Earth years is two hundred years in Hell." Mario felt a sudden shift between his confidence and his nerves, with his confidence faltering just a small amount. "Twenty Earth years ago, Rosalina Star was born-but as an infant she succumbed to what you call Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."

"SIDS…" A cold chill shot down his spine as the man turned to face him. "But how-"

"SIDS is an unexplained phenomena to Earth, but we in Hell are very familiar with it. You see, the root cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is often a lure. A demon will be watching-waiting-and the infant will be drained of its." Mario closed his hands up and tightened his jaw. "Two hundred years ago in Hell, Samil was promoted to a simple grim reaper demon, and he had his eye on a particular infant. He had plans for this infant. This infant was…Rosalina."

"He's not-"

"Not finished." The man moved past them once more, sighing heavily. "Many centuries ago it was well known that you could make deals with demons of all sorts, known simply as going to the crossroads. If an infant died mysteriously due to SIDS, there was often a mark or a sign left behind that their soul still hung in the balance. This opportunity remains but evidently faded away on Earth-however the girl's parents must have had dealings with the Occult-because they did the ritual to summon up the very demon that was eyeing the infant."

"Samil."

Heaven tensed and narrowed her eyes. Mario felt the air swept from him, he wanted to be angry with Luigi for doing such a thing, but he couldn't. He looked over to the friends, all of whom were standing still in silence with looks of shock on their faces. The man bounced in place and shrugged his shoulders.

"Correct. Samil has had plans to overthrow Lucifer for many centuries, and when Luigi asked that his firstborn be granted her life, he had an opportune moment. He could give Rosalina her life, but on her twentieth birthday at noon, he would return to claim her…Luigi was unwilling at first, but Peach seemed beside herself with grief, and he made the deal."

"My dad wouldn't do such a thing!" Heaven screamed. "He'd never make a deal with the devil!"

"It was not a deal with the devil-it was a deal with Samil."

"Either way!" She swept her arm through the air, screaming angrily and physically threatening to charge. As she lunged forward, Daisy and Cat grabbed her to hold her back. The man remained unfazed and simply stared with a monotonous expression. "Rosie's not staying here! I won't allow it! I'm taking her back with me."

"Heaven's right," Mario remarked with a determined scowl. "I don't care what Mr. Star did, but that deal didn't say _anything_ about us. We're not letting Rosalina go."

"How do you plan to take on Samil? You're nothing but mere mortals."

"We'll find a way."

"I see." The man bowed his head and chuckled. "Then I wish you the best of luck."

"Oh _really_ now?"

With that, the man disappeared in a blaze of fire. Behind them, they heard a loud swooping sound attracting their attention. It was like a pair of giant wings rustling in the air. When they turned, they saw that it was exactly what they'd feared.

Samil was hovering in the air with long black wings stretching out from his back. Beside him, Rosalina hovered with the same dull expression on her face, and black mark on her forehead. Mario rushed forward, calling out to her.

"She can't hear you," Samil smirked, "She can't hear any of you." He tilted his head and turned his eyes to narrow slits. "Followed me into Hell, I see. Your determination is admirable, but fruitless."

"Shut up!" Heaven pounded a fist in the air, screaming out angrily, "Give me back my sister!"

The man spread his arms out, laughing wildly. "Do you not see that you have nothing while I have the powers of Hell at my disposal?"

"We'll find a way! I won't stop until I've got my sister back. Even if it means killing you, I _will_ find a way to do it!" Samil's face tightened and his wings curled inwards, allowing him to descend towards the ground.

"Was that…a challenge?"

"Heaven be careful," Rango whimpered, "He looks dangerous." Heaven rolled her eyes as Samil tucked his lip into a vile smirk. Heaven twisted her head over her shoulder, glaring daggers at the boy.

"Listen to your friend, he may be smarter than he seems."

"That's uncalled for!"

Samil scratched beneath his chin, glaring down at Heaven and Mario. "I do find a good challenge enticing. Mere mortals against _me?_ This should be…entertaining, and surely an entertainment to my new bride." He snapped his fingers and pointed off to the distance. The group turned to look, but only saw a dirt path stretching out. "That is the way into the nearest 'city' of Hell. Beyond that, much further beyond that, you will find a Coliseum. If you truly wish Rosalina back, I will be waiting for your arrival there. We will decide the fates then, but do not expect getting there to be easy, for I will take great pleasure in seeing if you make it."

Mario took this to mean Samil would be throwing much at them while they attempted to make it. They had to survive long enough to get there, and once there, they had to take him out. "And if we should lose?" He asked. Samil tapped his chin and looked over to Trina.

"If you lose, Rosalina remains with me and you all will be forced to remain in Hell for all eternity." Mario's heart dropped and Heaven gazed at Rosalina with great concern. "If you manage to defeat me, you can all return home. Safe. With her. _Or_ , there's a third option-" He lifted a finger and narrowed his eyes. "Give up now, I will return you home to Earth-"

"We're not leaving without Rosalina!" Heaven shouted. The friends murmured their own uncertainties, stopping only when Heaven glared at them. "And you guys should have thought about following us down here in the first place! Friends or not, you're putting your own lives on the line too…"

"Then I guess we're all in this together," Rango responded, "But you're right. We'll leave it to you and Mario to decide what to do." Daisy and the others acknowledged this with nods of varying hesitation and certainty. Mario started to smile as Heaven looked back to Samil, stomping her foot on the ground.

"My mind's made up anyway, I'm not leaving without Rosalina . I'll stop you."

Samil let out a heavy sigh and flicked his arm out to the side, "So be it." Rosalinawalked into his arm and Mario shuddered as he watched Samil place a hand on her lower back. "I look forward to seeing you spend your eternity in Hell."

With that, he spread his wings out and flew up into the skies. Marioturned his gaze to the dirt path, ignoring the questions from the friends about what to do next. With a sneer, he clenched his fists and began walking onto the path. Heavenand the others followed soon after.

There was no going back. Even if it did mean giving up their lives, Mario and Heaven were not going to give up.


	3. Ch 3: Stranger

The red dust kicked up by the group created a haze before their eyes. Mario pushed through without ceasing, resisting the urge to cough as the dust sucked into his lungs. He knew everyone had their own limits, and sure they'd have to stop at some point of time, but he wanted to keep going as far as he could.

Yet, it was crucial to remember that while that could work on Earth, they were in Hell. The terrain and environment was much more treacherous than anything on Earth. It would be a good idea to stop and rest every once in a while. "How are you guys holding up back there?" He looked over his shoulder to see the friends packed together, all glancing out at their surroundings.

"We're fine for the time being," Waluigi remarked while covering his mouth with a bandana. He had been on a hike recently, so he still had the bandana from then. It served a reminder to Mario that they should look for a supply of them if they found anywhere they could be. "How about you guys? Breathing all right?"

"Heaven, aren't you asthmatic?" Heaven looked over and lifted her shoulders. Her face was red and her eyes had a look of exhaustion. Her chest was heaving and her nostrils were flaring out. She started to say she was fine, but Mario could see the tale-tale signs of oncoming difficulty breathing. "With all this dust and dirt…Waluigi, could you possibly spare that bandana of yours?"

"I'm fine," Heaven muttered.

"You'll be breathing hard if you're not careful."

"He's right," Waluigi pulled off the bandana and handed it to Heaven. "Use it to keep the dust out of your lungs." With a sigh, Heaven thanked him and grabbed the bandana. After a few more minutes of walking, Waluigi whistled a tune and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "So uh, do we have any kind of a _plan_ or is this more racing in with guns blazing-not to mention we don't _have_ guns."

"I'm trying to think of one." Mario crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. In the distance he could see a 'city', but all that was between them was flat land. This made it difficult to gauge just how far the city was. "I wonder if maybe-and this sounds odd as hell to say-Lucifer might help us."

Heaven raised an eyebrow at him and the others chuckled at the thought. It wasn't hard to think of, considering Satan probably didn't want to be dethroned anytime soon. "I don't know. To be perfectly honest, Mario, I wouldn't expect aid from anyone. God's not in Hell, and Satan probably doesn't care for intruders."

"Well we could appeal to the um…prideful nature of the devil? Believe me, it sounds absurd in my head too. I just-We really need to think of something, because if we just go straight for Samil, we're going to be slaughtered."

"I know." Heaven bowed her head and clenched her teeth. Her muscles tensed, then relaxed. She closed her eyes and swept her hair behind her. "We can't give up though. I don't want to lose my sister, she means way too much to me." She lifted her head up, scoffing to herself. "Which _still_ makes me surprised that my friends decided to join me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daisy inquired.

"It isn't like it's a secret that you guys didn't like Rosalina."

Daisy reached over, patting Heaven once on the shoulder, "Yeah but things are different." Mario turned his head to peer ahead, listening for the moment. "We like her, I think she's cool-hell, she's even been teaching me some things about martial arts." Heavengave her friend a look of amazement and Daisy started to smile.

"I didn't know you were hanging out with my sister."

"Yeah, well…I didn't want to seem like-oh I don't know, she and I have been getting along. Maybe it was crazy to jump in, but hey, she's my friend too."

"You're laying down your own life for her right now, Daisy." She glanced to the others and her lips fell flat with her eyebrows. "All of you are…I should be grateful, but honestly, I don't know how to react-"

"Please!" Rango laughed, "You and Mario couldn't do all this by yourself. You heard that stranger back there, only Hercules of ancient legend ever managed to pull someone back out of Hell. You need a team, and we're here for you guys."

"So you think we can really do this?" Heaven took a deep breath and Marioshifted his eyes over, hinting at a tiny smile. This confidence from the friends was a good thing. It would be that faith that really would help propel them forward.

"We're a team," Mariostated, "We'll have to work together and believe in each other, I suppose. I know I won't stop until we're out of here with Rosalina, and I intend to make good on that. I believe we can do it, any lack of confidence in _Hell_ is going to be the end of us. I know that much right off the bat."

Daisy nodded with determination, "Right. We got this." She looked back to Rango on with an arched brow. "One thing I don't get is how and why he brought the puppet with him." Rango looked to Peridot and shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows, maybe he'll have some use."

"Unless he can shoot holy light out of his eyes, I doubt a ventriloquist act will be useful."

"He could very well be." Waluigi paused at the strangely familiar voice. The group turned to see stranger from before walking towards them. The man had a handsome smirk and high brows. "There's no reason to carry a useless puppet around hell. If you're going up against Samil, that puppet could only get in the way."

Rango glanced down at the puppet with a frown and shook his head, "It would take a lot for me to discard him, but-"

"That won't be necessary. Allow me…" The stranger touched his hand to the back of the puppet. Mario was astonished to see a red light enveloping Peridot. Rango's eyes widened and the stranger took a step beck. "I, like many demons in Hell, do not support Samil. There are a few that do, and they may challenge you, so you'll want a weapon. Once you get into the city there are more opportunities, but right now, this is what I give you."

"What did you do, and why are you helping us?"

"As I said, I do not support Samil. Most demons that say that will be tortured, I know how to lay low." The man swept his and through his hair and exhaled slowly as Rango gawked at the puppet's red eyes. "Rango Brood. The switch you use to operate that puppet's mouth now releases a devastating echo that can turn stone to rubble. It creates a sound that can stun any demon, blowing them off their feet. It can prove fatal to weaker demons, but stronger ones are more resistant. Use this new weapon to your advantage."

Rango was skeptical at first, so the man pointed to a rock formation several feet to the side. "W-What do I do?"

"Just aim…" Rango nodded and moved Peridot in front of him, trembling as he aimed the puppet towards the rock formation. "Pull the switch." As he did, a tremendous shriek pierced the air. Mario winced as the sound pierced his eardrum

A sound wave drifted from the mouth of the puppet, enveloping the rock formation. The structure trembled for several seconds before slowly collapsing to the ground. Rango gasped and looked to Peridot with awe. "Oh my god, that is awesome!"

Mario could see this would be a fantastic asset to have, and for their first weapon, it truly was helpful. It may not be able to devastate or stop Samil, but it was worth something. Hell, they could bury enemies in rocks with the thing!

"I never thought I'd say this," He pat Rango's shoulder and smirked as the man's eyes drifted to his with confidence, "But I'm glad you have that damned puppet."

"Thanks, Mario."

The stranger folded his arms and dipped his head. "It will still take much more to defeat Samil. As for the puppet, it's best you guard the weapon-it is still made of wood and can be destroyed as such." It also meant fire was the worst thing, still, that could affect Peridot-and yet that would likely be the most predominant element around.

Looking to Heaven , he could see she was contemplating similar thoughts. She was studying Peridot and letting her eyes drift out to the fire emanating from the cracks in the ground. "So keep Peridot close, Rango ." Heavendid a double take, amazed at what came from her lips. She closed her eyes and exhaled softly. "Right now that thing's our only weapon, so if you lose it…we're screwed."

"I won't lose the puppet." Yes, one thing always said was that it would be a 'cold day in hell' when anyone accepted the puppet-now the phrase meant little. He turned to the man, studying him closely as if trying to figure out who he was. Rango was the one to ask the question on all of their minds at this point. "So, are you following us-and who are you?"

The man flashed a subtle smile and spread his arms out to the side. "Let's just say I'm a demon that doesn't like to side with the losing team."

"We're a bunch of mortals going up against you know who." Rango's face fell flat and his tone grew dull. "Granted he's not the Devil, but why would anyone vote for mortals over one of Hell's strongest?"

"Because it's _entertaining."_ Mario narrowed his eyes and Heaven turned away, scoffing her irritation. The man snapped his fingers and vanished away before anyone could say anything more.

"Does he disturb anyone else?" Waluigi asked, "Or is it just me?"

Mario turned away and peered off into the distance, "Let's just keep moving. Any help we get is a good thing." He hoped they'd be given more weapons or capabilities when they got to whatever city they were going to. "If we see anything on the way that looks like it's going to kill us, just keep moving unless it decides to attack."

"In which case we fight back?"

"Yeah-we have something that can at least give us a head start." Unless the demon were weak and their insides explode. What were the chances of that? It did give him a more curious thought. "What do you think happens when a demon in Hell _dies?_ Is it a real death?"

Heaven rubbed her chin, glancing off to the side in time to see a reddish green bullfrog hopping off the path ahead of them. The frog had several bumps that were oozing a strange substance, and its eyes were blood-red. The frog looked up at them, then continued to hop away. They could hear its croaking like a bloodcurdling whirling noise.

"I don't know," Heaven looked back onto the path with a frown. She didn't want to admit she was afraid, but truly she was. Rosalina had always been the fighter, always the strong one-ever since her days as a little girl when she needed someone to crawl into bed with because of 'monsters' in the closet, Rosalina was always there. She could be angry at her friends for throwing their lives away by following her here, but at the same time, she was glad they were here.

"I think they go to some oblivion or something," Daisy suggested, "I don't remember where but I read somewhere that if a demon or something dies they're sent somewhere worse than Hell. Not sure if that's accurate."

"There's a lot we don't know about Hell, Daisy . I figure it might be a good idea to start learning."

Mario nodded and pointed to the buildings in the distance, " Heaven's right. Once we get to this city, we should do our best to learn what we can about this place. What we know of from the Bible may not be enough."

Waluigi turned his lips downward and he closed his eyes, "Can I just say I really haven't read much of the bible. Not since I was a kid anyway, too much of my mother shoving it and religion down my throat…"

"Well, that's technically in the past right now, Waluigi."

"I know. I never thought I'd be spending my days in Hell though."

Heaven growled and the others froze, "We're not staying here, Waluigi. We're getting my sister and getting the hell out of this place." Mario furrowed his brow and watched as Heaven walked ahead of the group. He worried for Heaven's sister, she was like a sister to him as well-and would of course be by marriage-so he was well aware of what apprehensions she had. At the very least, the determination she was showing was good for her, helping her not to focus on what deranged creatures may be scattered throughout this place.


	4. Ch 4: Making Enemies

They'd been walking for what felt like hours, and the city Mario thought he saw was still in the distance. The chattering of the friends ceased and everyone was moving in an eerie silence broken only by the distance howls and cries of the tormented souls that resided in Hell. "Jesus, doesn't this path ever end?" Iggy muttered. Mario raised his eyebrows and looked over to the exhausted man.

"It will. I think it's a trick or something. This concept of walking for hours, we may have only been walking for minutes. We're in Hell, God only knows what it's like."

Waluigi rubbed his hands together vigorously and looked around, "Okay then. Maybe we can pass along the time with jokes and riddles." Mario waited for him to make any kind of joke, though at a time like this joking didn't seem appropriate. "A Jewish guy, an Agnostic, an Anti-Religious guy, pair of Christians, Lutheran, and a Catholic all walk through hell-what is the topic of discussion?"

Looking back, Waluigi appeared ready to smack Iggy upside the head. The others grasped the context as well. Iggy was Lutheran, Mona was Catholic, Rango was Jewish but open to the idea of Catholicism, Waluigi hated religion but didn't identify with being either Atheist or Agnostic. However, Waluigi's family was Mormon. He wasn't, didn't claim to agree completely with them-to which his mother repeatedly shoved the family's faith and the bible down his throat in order to 'convert' him back. Daisy was Agnostic. She believed in God, but through her own struggles in life she'd come to question whether or not God was truly always present or not. Mario was Christian, much like the Star family.

"I don't know," Mario rubbed his chin and cocked his mouth up in a smirk, curious to see where Iggy was going with this. "What's the topic of discussion?" Maybe it was more of a question.

"Does God exist? Or more in Rango's case maybe-is Jesus our messiah?"

"Let's not have this discussion," Rango replied. "I actually _do_ believe in the Savior-my parents still uphold traditional Jewish traditions though." Mario respected this-as he respected everyone's faith. Traveling into Hell was a damn good time to remain strong in your beliefs.

"Well we are in Hell after all," Heaven remarked. She was still marching ahead of the pack, her body still tense and her anxious eyes gazing ahead. "If anything, our faith itself might be tried. Lutheran, Mormon, Catholic, Christian, whatever it is…We need to be careful not to let our own spiritual views be destroyed by demons in hell-but also to make sure it doesn't destroy us."

She had a very good point, they each had their own set of beliefs and if they got into a discussion on these beliefs-if they weren't open minded to hearing about other faiths-then they'd destroy themselves. "I know Satan himself probably doesn't denounce the presence of God," Daisy pulled a portion of her shirt from where it had become stuck beneath her belt. "If we're in Hell, it's a good point that Heaven must exist, and somewhere out there, maybe God does too."

Beck furrowed his brow and swept his hand through his hair, "If our faiths are supposed to save us. Say we believe in the salvation story-then how can Samil condemn our souls to Hell if we can't save Rosalina? Wouldn't God have something to say about that?"

"God lets a lot of things happen, in my experience," Daisy retorted in a mildly angry voice. "It really makes you wonder whether He has some sort of sick, twisted pleasure that's derived from watching people."

"I think that's Satan, not God."

Mario didn't want to involve himself in this conversation, but he couldn't help feeling a compelling curiosity in regards to it. "While keeping this civilized, Daisy, why do you feel like God doesn't intervene or help people?"

"Well for one thing, look at where we're at." She extended her arm and let out a scoffing chuckle. "We're also on the way to save Rosalina, whose been kidnapped by one of Hell's biggest demons. Look at all the crime, the suffering and gloom on earth. Look at all the families out there going hungry, or suffering from domestic violence. Why doesn't God lift a single finger?"

"I think he does." Daisy furrowed her brow and Sinjin glanced over his shoulder. He was trying to choose his words carefully, so as to not force his own personal opinion on anyone else. "It's only my opinion, but I think he lets things happen so we can grow from them. Maybe to learn from life, or else we'd remain naïve and inexperienced. You know, much like a parent lets their child make mistakes."

"Maybe…but the thing is, when push comes to shove-when there's real danger-a parent takes their kid out of the danger. This? All of this right here? This isn't taking their kid out of danger."

"Right, I see your point. It is possible something will happen. I don't think we'll ever know all the answers until the day we actually die-though being in Hell might open a few doors…"

"You think we'll remember any of this?"

"I don't see how we can forget. I don't know though."

'I have a funny question," Mona chimed above the others to be heard, and was successful in drawing their attention to her. "What are the chance of the Devil allying with us?"

"Slim to none?" He raised an eyebrow as Rango hummed his uncertainty.

"She's got a point. I mean he doesn't want Samil knocking him off the high horse he's on. He could very well help. Then again, we'd have to figure out whether accepting his help would be good or bad. Anything to save Rosalina, I get that, but if it means we accept help from _Satan?"_

"A demon did give that puppet of yours some powers," Iggy pointed to the puppet and Rango's shoulders rose. "I think if it means saving Rosalina, we accept help. If it means losing our souls or hers…"

"Well our souls are already at risk."

"Right, but still…Do you think anyone back home will miss us?" The group stopped and Heaven froze, slowly looking over her shoulder at Heaven. Her eyes were puffy and her face red, angry tears had streaked her cheeks, and strands of her hair were stuck to her face. She pulled her hair away and narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know about missing us or not, but I'm angry at mom and dad. I've been close to my sister for so many years, so to just find out that she shouldn't even be alive-but is because my mom and dad made a deal with a demon…I can hardly think about them. I'm sure our families miss us though."

"If they even know we're gone."

"Iggy, your grandmother would be the first person to know you're missing if you don't go home or return her calls."

"Yeah." Mario knew he'd be missed, but if by anyone, Pauline. Nobody would believe this happened-and it was difficult to imagine anything aside from foul play. "And Heaven. She was their first child, they were distraught at losing her." He took a deep breath as Heaven turned an angry glare onto him. He caught a flicker of sadness, which spoke out much more than the anger that she had to be feeling. "It's hard to imagine making a deal with a demon on anything-but we would have to put ourselves in their shoes…they were given an opportunity to save their daughter's life."

Her face sank for a moment and she quickly wiped a tear. "I know, I just…I can't imagine growing up a single child, and like it or not, I would be one if Mom and Dad didn't take that offer."

"I'm not saying it was right, I'm not saying it was the best decision, but for them and at the time it was happening-with the only other option being 'let the baby die', they didn't have a whole lot of options." Likely it didn't even hit them right away that they'd be losing her in twenty years. The part he was angry about was the deal meant losing Rosalina to Hell. Sometimes, however, patience was better than anger, and right now, he needed to have a calm mind.

Heaven lifted her hand and curled her fingers around the tip of her bangs, she narrowed her eyes and pulled her hair from her gaze. "I'm the only one here who's parents know where I'm at. I wonder if that's good or bad."

"Let's think about Mr. and Mrs. Star shall we?" He cocked a smirk while the others raised their eyebrows. "They're probably freaking out." His smirk fell into a frown and his hands moved into his pockets as a heavy sigh fell from his lips. "Then again, if you think about it. They know both of their daughters are now wandering around hell-" He glanced over his shoulders at the others and huffed as Heaven followed his gaze, "-They know all of your friends went in with you, which means they have that responsibility of somehow explaining to each of their parents that their children are also in hell."

"Oh that'll be great," Waluigi rolled his eyes and growled viciously, "Just what my mother wants to hear I'm sure. 'Sorry ma'am, your son's in hell now and we don't know how to get him back'." A sneer stretched over Waluigi's face and his eyes slid shut. "All these years of bible thumping my ass and worshipping Joseph Smith and I'm still in hell." Waluigi shook his fist in the air. "Fuck you mom!"

"Calm down Waluigi," Iggy muttered. "We don't know what emotions will do down here." Waluigi raised an eyebrow as a thunderous rumble echoed overhead.

"He's right." The group stopped walking for a moment and Mario turned towards them. "The rules here are a little different. Down here, if some demon says to kill someone on earth it can happen. We may not be dead, but we're still in Hell-that means that if we want something to happen, it might actually happen."

"You mean if I ask for my mother to kick the bucket, she might?" Waluigi scoffed and shook his head. "Doubtful, that woman will always be there to shove her religious views down my throat. Hell itself is nicer than she is."

Another thunderous roar filled the skies, but this time it had a different sound. They could hear a metallic whirring and the hum of tires on pavement. When Mario turned he spotted seven motorcycles racing towards them. "Shit. Guys, look out!"

"What?" They froze as seven headlights fell onto them. Heaven jumped out of the way and behind Mario, ducking for a split second before stepping out of his shadow. The bikers stopped, each wearing a black helmet with red lens covering their eyes. In this group were five men and two women, each with a spike covered biker's jacket and faded black jeans that overlapped heavy black boots. "Bikers of Hell?"

"There's seven of them," Mario whispered to the group, as if expecting them to understand the predicament they were now facing.

The one in the front, likely the leader of the group, removed his helmet and glared at the group with a heavy smirk. He had short, spiky brown hair with a red stripe. His eyebrows resembled two small flames on his tanned skin. He had a narrow face with light stubble on the chin. "Well, well, well…Live humans wandering around our domain. I was wondering if it were true. My friend here caught the scent of a wrathful person-who here is partaking?"

"None of your business!" Waluigi barked out. The man laughed again and pointed his hand at him. His hands bore black, fingerless gloves with spikes that ran around the wrist of the glove.

"So you? Tell me, who is making you angry right now? What ails you? Not that I don't already know." He chuckled to himself and moved his hand to his chest. "After all, you don't expect _me_ not to know something? I pride myself in many things." Mario looked over his shoulder, studying the now closer city walls. If they could just get there and away from this group, they'd stand a chance of safety.

Daisy grabbed her boyfriend's arm, trembling under the glare of the biker. "Waluigi, I think we need to go."

"No, stay and chat. We'd love to get to know you humans a little more. You followed Samil in, I presume? I've never seen anyone so…willing to do that…"

"Well Samil took a friend of ours," Waluigi retorted, "So we thought to get her back."

"Really now?" The biker gripped his handlebar and began to circle Waluigi, chuckling sinisterly. "You do have a lot of anger in you. Perhaps I should let my friend give you some…guidance." As Waluigi scoffed, Mario slowly backed towards Rango, his fears were rapidly being confirmed as to who these seven were.

"Rango, we need to get to the city now," Mario whispered. Rango swallowed hard and slowly nodded, sweeping away the sweat on his brow.

"What do you want me to do."

"Use the damn puppet. Though, I don't know how well it's going to work on these guys."

"Okay." Rango cleared his throat and the leader of the bikers turned his head towards him, arching his eyebrow high. Rango positioned the puppet in front of his chest and gripped the switch firmly.

The second the puppet opened its mouth, a continuous sonic boom erupted. Six of the bikers fell off their bikes and clutched their helmets, screaming loudly while their leader looked to them with pity. The man was tense, and in great pain, but otherwise unaffected. "Pathetic." He turned towards Rango and narrowed his eyes. "You thought that was going to work on me?"

"Long enough." Mario rushed forward, knowing the danger of this move, and shoved the demon off his bike. "Hurry up!" He pointed to the other bikes and the group moved onto them. Before the seven could react, the group started up the bikes and sped off.

"My bike!" The leader screamed. Mario checked the rearview mirror and saw the man shaking his fist at him. A pit grew in his stomach as sweat trickled down the side of his face. Heaven sped up alongside him and made eye contact.

"What did we just do, Mario? Besides making more enemies in hell already, who did we piss off?" She gave him a look that implied she already knew.

He clenched his jaw and looked straight ahead at the approaching buildings. They would definitely be seeing these seven again along the way to Rosalina, so they were going to have to be prepared. "Everyone, when we get to town, we need to start searching for weapons."

"Why?" Mona inquired shakily. "What's going on?"

"Because…" He drew out a sharp breath as regret took him over. "We just stole from the Seven Deadly Sins."

* * *

 **A/N:** Stole from the Seven, of course they stole from the Seven, why _wouldn't_ they do it? Well, at least they've gotten to their first stopping point. Will be switching to Heaven's perspective from the 5th and onward. More emotional input and output that way. What did you think of this chapter, the conversations, and so on.


	5. Ch 5: Have Faith

"Let's leave these here," Heaven parked the motorcycle next to what appeared to be a bar. The others followed suit. She knew the seven would be looking for the bikes, so it was best to leave them before they showed up. "We don't need these, and if we need transport we'll get it from something that won't try to hunt us down and kill us-like those bikers back there."

"You really think those were the seven sins?" Iggy scoffed. He leaned against a wooden railing, then hopped off glaring at his now burnt clothing. He pat the burned jeans and looked up to Heaven. "Mom goes on about the 'seven heresies'. Then again, the seven sins exist too, but I always thought they were just like-I don't know-not human."

Heaven walked in a gliding motion past Iggy, her hair flying out behind her and her hands closing into tight balls. "They're not human, they're demons." She ran her fingers through her hair and looked into the red sky. "Manifestations that influence the thought and feelings of people-and apparently they can sniff out what we're feeling. Pride, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, _Wrath_ …If we're feeling something, they'll sniff us out. So Mario's right, if we stand any hope of finding my sister, we have to stay away from them or fight them if we encounter them-and the only way we're going to do that is to find weapons and do research."

"And how are we going to find weapons?"

"We're in a city apparently," Mario muttered. Heaven put her hands to her hips and looked around, examining her surroundings for the first time. There was a hot breeze in the air, still with the falling sparks fluttering past her like snow. All around them were buildings that looked almost like ruins-but with demons walking around like _citizens_ and staring at them with sneers and confusion.

For some reason they weren't attacking, they looked clearly as though they wanted to, but it was as though there were orders or someone holding them back. "They're leaving us alone for some reason…" It was a blessing in disguise, but Heaven remained skeptical. Not only was she skeptical, she was fearful-yet she couldn't let that stop her.

Rosalina wasn't around to protect her from the monsters in the closet anymore. Now it was her job to protect her sister from the scariest, loathsome monster of all-The Angel of Death. "Just pray to God that Satan doesn't decide he wants our heads."

In the distance, seven smoke pillars were rising into the skies. Heaven heard Mario order everyone to start moving, so they did. She clenched her teeth together and began running in the direction of the nearest building-which appeared to be a library.

Once they hid inside, the group looked through a glossy window at the bikes across the street. The seven landed beside their bikes, and the leader stepped forward, growling and flaring his nostrils. "We'll find them, Pride." A busty woman with long, flowing red hair stepped beside him and gently set her hand on his shoulder.

"We will find them, Lust." Pride's angry face intensified and his growl deepened. "No one, I repeat _no one_ gets to make me look like a fool! When I find them…I'll show them just how strong I really am. If they still think the worst thing to fear is the 'boogeyman', they'll be surprised to discover someone more sinister…"

Heaven's heart stopped and her eyes began to water as she dropped to the floor and leaned back against the wall. Everything was beginning to hit her full swing now. She curled her knees up to her chest and slowly shook her head. "Heaven?" Daisy reached out to her, touching her shoulder. "Heaven are you all right?"

"I'm not." She sniffed again and wiped her eyes before looking up to Mario with a subtle whimper. Fear was beginning to take hold of her, shaking away that determination she built up. "I'm not my sister-I can't do this. I just…I don't know what I got myself into."

"We're all in this together," Waluigi stated, "We followed _you_ in. We're here, if you're scared, we're here."

"You're not enough." They frowned as she bowed her head and began to tremble. "Don't take it the wrong way. I'm scared, okay. Nothing- _Nothing_ has _ever_ hurt my sister. She was the strong one, the brave one, the one that always kept the bad guys away…Sure she had her fears-and Daddy would take care of it, but this? This is something that took _her_ away, something that Daddy couldn't even stop!" The anger she once harbored was now fleeing and the growing fear was sapping away her breath.

Mona knelt beside her, pressing her lips tightly together and giving her a gentle concerned look. "Heaven, it's all right."

Heaven reached up, grabbing tufts of her hair between her fingers and staring wide eyed at the floor. "No you don't understand." Her breathing grew labored and she struggled to take deep breaths to relax. "Wh-when I was six, all the kids at school would talk about the-you know the boogeyman. The guy that hid under your bed and would take you away?"

They all knew the story-every single kid knew the tale of their most dangerous and feared bedroom stalker. "Of course."

"Well I got scared easily back then, okay? Even now I still do…" She hugged her arms and narrowed her eyes. "I would see shadows lurking on my walls at night and I would scream and cry until Rosalina came into my room." Her lips curved into the faintest smile and her eyes drifted up to her friends' comforting and understanding expressions. "She'd tell me not to be afraid, everything would be okay…then, as cheesy as it sounds, she'd sing to me." Heaven chuckled nervously as Sinjin handed her a tissue to wipe her tears with. She dried her cheeks and hung her arms over her knees. "One song, just one song that our mom loved from when we were younger-she said mom used to sing it to her. You guys remember um…'Make it Shine'?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, cheesy I know." She tucked her hair over her ear and looked up to the sky, searching for stars that no longer existed in hell. "She'd point to the stars out my window, telling me that behind that song were those stars and if I just think of the song and look out to the stars-I could light up the room." She chuckled and let out a small sob as the age old memory came crawling back. "Some nights I'd curl up in bed with her and look out at them. They're not here now, but I could lose myself in them-or lose myself in my sister and I wouldn't have to be afraid of anything. But you want to know the truth? Now? Now I'm terrified…terrified because my sister's not here and I'm trying to keep up a façade of bravado when _clearly_ I'm still that same old terrified little girl that needs her sister! And she's not here…when I need her most…"

Her voice rose with a violent sob and her fist pounded the ground beside her leg. She felt Daisy and Mona wrap their arms around her and began to relax, letting their gesture comfort her. "Now she needs you. She needs all of us. We're going to get her back Heaven…"

"But what if we don't? We're being hunted by some of the worst demons, facing off the most powerful demon here-besides the devil-and worst of all, we'll all going to lose our lives if we don't save my sister. We're ill prepared, unarmed, powerless humans-"

"We'll find a way," Mario marveled. She was a bit taken aback by his undeterred determination, but his confidence did help her relax. Even the slightest amount of confidence was a comfort to her. "This could be part of Samil's plan, to get you to be afraid, but Heaven, we can do this." He knelt before her and looked directly into her eyes. "We're going to save your sister, Heaven. Just have faith and it'll happen."

"He's right." Waluigi crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "I don't like to admit that prayer could help-but it's possible. Does God hear prayers all the way in hell? If people talk about faith, then anything's possible through it…we just need faith, right? Is that it?"

"Pretty much." Mario chuckled softly and Heaven nodded. Her heart began to pound as the others all murmured their agreements. Mario placed a firm, but gentle hand to her shoulder and closed his eyes. "Look, I'm scared too. The last thing I could ever imagine is losing her. That's what's driving me forward is believing that, well, as 'cheesy' as it is…" His lip tucked into a smirk and Heaven raised an eyebrow.

"That my love for her will carry me to her and I will be able to get her out of there. Heaven, you're her sister and I know you feel the same way about Rosalina that I do-though different scenarios obviously-but nothing-" He spread his arms out wide and Heaven looked around them. "Not even _Hell_ is going to keep me from her!"

"Yeah, I believe that." There really wasn't any time to be afraid, they were right. She just needed to have the faith that she could save Rosalina. "We'll save her, I'll do anything for her-even if that means risking my life to save her from Samil." Waluigi helped her to stand up and Rango pat her on the back. A new determination filled her, replacing the fear that had struck her. "I don't know what got over me. I'm sorry for holding us up."

"Don't be," Mona stated, "We're all here together-and this is why we're here-to keep each other from falling." Mona was right, if they weren't here she would probably be long dead or have given up already.

This sudden fear, it had to be test, and likely wasn't the last test they were going to face. She wiped her tears away once more and cleared her throat while scanning the surrounding area.

"O-Okay…we are definitely in a library. Now my question is-why does Hell have a city?"

"Why not?" Iggy chortled and shrugged his arms to the sides. "I mean who said Hell couldn't have cities? It's probably not peaceful, but it's something. If anything, they've got an obvious library." He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, speaking in a soft tone of voice. Her body relaxed and her eyes dropped for a brisk second. "It's your call. You and Mario are the leaders. You heard the girls, we're here for you, so…we'll wait for you two to decide on what we do. What's the next step, Heaven? We're still in this?"

"Of course we are." Her eyes shot up ferociously and she turned to the bookshelves. "Our next step…we study everything we can find in Hell's Library. We need to know who we're up against and what we're facing…after that, Sinjin says we need to arm ourselves-I agree."

"We'll just have to see where in Hell a weapons shop is," Mario replied, "I assume there's going to be one in this 'city' but I don't know for sure." He leaned against the wall and looked at a receptionist nearby.

The receptionist had old dried skin and trickles of red blood seeping from her pores. Her scraggly gray hair was in a bun and her eyes were hollow with tiny red circles. "For some reason the demons here aren't attacking us." Mario pushed forward and started to move towards the receptionist. "I don't know why that is, but we can use that to an advantage-we'll know the ones that do attack us are likely sent to us by Samil."

"And the Seven?" Heaven stepped up beside him, frowning as she walked at his pace. His eyes drifted to her and he lifted his shoulders.

"I'm not sure. The Seven Deadly Sins may be sent by him-or it could just be we pissed them off."

"The Seven Deadly Sins?" The old woman croaked in an eerily dark voice. Heaven swallowed hard as the woman turned to peer at them. "Pride is the first born to Samil, he is to be wed to Lust. Wrath being the final-each meant to contain the energy needed to rule the throne, but the women who bore them were weak and unable. Samil needs a woman of strong energy to contain his energy and able to contain the energy of a child that will help secure the kingdom of hell…"

Heaven's blood ran cold and Mario shuddered beside her. The cryptic words were enough to cause her to cower once more, but at the same time, they renewed her faith and determination.

"Then we keep that from happening," Heaven replied, "We'll need to do some big research, ma'am…"

The woman extended her wrinkled arm and looked off to the side, moaning lightly. "The library is yours, but please, try to be quiet if you can…"


	6. Ch 6: Secrets of Hell

Heaven was seated beside Mario, who was standing up and leaning against a bookshelf. The group were all in one of the back aisles and scattered about the floor, taking as many notes as they could about Hell and those around them. "So it's true, the Seven are Samil's children." Heaven flipped over the page and scrunched her face as Mario peered down at her.

"So he's been trying even before he was a grim reaper to overthrow Hell? What makes Trina so special to him when six other women weren't good enough?"

"They were all human," Daisy answered. Heaven looked over to see Daisy's pupils fixated intensely on the pages in her own book. "Turn out they all were injected with his energy at birth and that energy grew and manifested itself as the girl matured." Heaven's stomach tightened as she imagined her sister being tainted as an infant. As much as she didn't want to hear more, she had no choice. "None of the women survived childbirth-without their survival he didn't have a bride to rule and he would be unable to activate that dark energy in them which was supposed to give him a boost of power to take over Lucifer."

"And the purpose of the Seven?"

"Each one was meant to take the final blow killing Lucifer for good. Without their mother's energy they're not strong enough." She couldn't help feeling disgusted over the fact that Rosalina was going to be used just to make babies. Hell, even Rosalina would be disgusted with it!

"Rosalina would kill him if she had control of her senses," Heaven mumbled. At least she could say Samil was holding off on his plans just to fight them, but it was only a mild comfort. There was no telling what he was doing to Rosalina's soul right now.

"Hey guys listen to this," Waluigi declared. The others looked up at him, he had a smugness to his expression and amused eyes. "Marilyn Monroe really _was_ murdered and JFK assassinated by the mafia for stiffing them when he ordered them to kill her!" The group groaned at him and Heaven shook her head in disgust.

"Not the time, Waluigi."

"Sorry…I mean I had to look it up, but yeah I get it."

"In the _meantime_ ," Iggy huffed, "Hell's library has a copy of Dante's Inferno and an analysis of it." Heaven leaned over to the right, peering over his shoulder. In his hands was _Dante's Inferno_ covered in shorthand notes. She was intrigued. "Dante paints a vivid picture, but it apparently isn't one hundred percent. Hell, like Heaven, is what the dead or near-death make of it."

Daisy raised an eyebrow and looked up from her book, "Huh?"

"Listen to this: 'Dante depicts Hell as his eyes see, but the truth to hell is more detailed than what he proclaims. To the near death he witnesses the layers that those on earth suffer for their own sins. To the murderer, hell will be made up of murderers and tormentors. To the Lust filled, it will be lust that tortures them, draining them dry of their sexual energy."

Waluigi blinked a couple times and started to speak slowly, processing his own question, "So if the near death or the dead see hell in that way-and Dante obviously never saw cities, what does that mean for us? Why did we walk into a city?"

"I think I have the answer to that!" Iggy flipped through the pages of the book he was studying and read aloud with great energy. "To the normal demons of hell, they see it as a place of living. Demons are torturers and tormentors-they have their own homes in Hell their own cities as the Angels of Heaven do. To the dead and near death, they do not see this for their sins are their illusions and their own demons their eternal tormentors." Heaven's eyebrows rose as Iggy lifted his head up. "Dante must have actually seen Hell as we are, but instead he saw what the dead were going through, we're seeing what the demons are doing when they're not torturing someone? We're not dead, we're still alive-so by that regard-our sins on earth are not our illusions…"

"That's a pretty damn good way to look at it," Mario replied, "I can't think of a better explanation-and it might also explain why we haven't seen the dead yet." Heaven had to agree, but she also fully believed they'd see the dead eventually. While walking through Hell's wilderness or some sort like that, surely there would be a dead soul being tortured by one of Hell's demons. "Hey, maybe we'll see Al Capone, or even Hitler…"

Iggy smirked and closed his book, letting the dust fly off from the pages, "If we see Hitler…permission to hit him for my great grandpa?"

"He's being tortured in Hell I'm sure, your great gramps is more than avenged," Waluigi replied flatly. Waluigi turned a page in his book and emitted a scoffing chuckle. "Says here Hitler has his own special little place in hell where he's constantly being shot up, gassed, experimented on, starved…yeah he's suffering, and it doesn't look like he's getting out anytime soon."

"I would be careful to take pleasure in that," Heaven reminded them. She knew it would be better not to show pleasure or judgment over stuff like that-even if it did feel good. "Here in hell we almost have to be perfect and strong or else we're screwed. Just think about whose after us-if you don't think the Seven Deadly Sins are going to test us along the way…"

It was possible, especially since each one of them had a peculiar sin that the Seven could utilize and kill them with. Granted there were particular ones that wouldn't deter them, like Lust would have no effect on Mario, but like Rosalina, Pride could be highly damaging for him if he wasn't careful.

For some of the friends, it was obvious to Heaven which one they had to look out for. Waluigi's was Wrath, Mona's was Gluttony, she knew Daisy and herself both had issues with Envy. Iggy had his moments of Greed, and Iggy could be lazy at times-so Sloth was someone to look out for with him. It was Iggy and Rango that were likely the least to figure out however, because any number of the Seven could overwhelm them with the right material. She was pretty certain Iggy's greatest vice was Lust, but she wasn't sure.

"We have to stay strong, especially with them. Some things aren't going to affect us like they will someone else. We're a team, so we have to look out for that. If Wrath goes after Waluigi for example, we need to pull him out of there…"

"The lady makes sense," Iggy shrugged, "And I'd like to stay away from Lust, by the way." Heaven raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded. "That might not be easy for me to get away from."

"Right, we just need to be prepared and be strong." These demons could easily scare her if she wasn't careful, which was why she mentally prepared herself by repeatedly telling herself the ultimate goal of saving her sister. That was the one thing keeping her going.

At the same time, the demons would know that. Samil would know that. She had to prepare herself for the possibility that they might use that to their advantage. It wasn't farfetched for her to believe they might actually have Rosalina attack her-in which case, she wouldn't be able to fight back.

"Whatever comes our way we should probably prepare for the worst. Also, even though it looks like the demons her aren't attacking us, that doesn't mean we're not considered intruders to them. So we still should probably not interact too much with them unless we have to. Don't start anything with them. We don't know how they'll react."

"Right, besides we're not going to be here for long," Mario turned the page in his book and narrowed his gaze on the page. His eyebrow arched up and his eyes flicked over to them. "We should focus all research on the important things-like Salim, who apparently is actually as old as Lucifer. One of those that fell from heaven with him."

"So it's a definite that God and heaven exist," Daisy breathed, "I knew that part. I just-" Heaven looked up as Daisy's eyes scanned over a page in a separate book. Her face relaxed and her brow furrowed at the page. "He just lets us live lives and learn from experiences…like a parent…but why does he allow the bad things to happen?"

"Bad things come from the Devil," Mario replied. "God sits there like a judge, and if we're guilty enough-guess where we're going." Daisy glanced around her and huffed. "I can almost not help but to wonder how many politicians there are down here, but there _are_ still more important things to deal with. If we let our curiosity in matters get the best of us, and we spend too much time here, we won't get to Rosalina in time."

"It almost feels like we're wasting time," Heaven muttered, "We're not really finding anything out here." There were some good bits of information-but nothing massive or earthshattering. She flipped idly through her book, narrowing her eyes at the pages. "What's messed up is that all the information on Samil is in different books." Everything was in different books, making it as confusing as hell. Which made perfect sense to her, but still annoyed her very greatly.

"We just need to find some way to beat him." Silence grew over the group as they continued their search. Eventually, after what felt like a long and grueling process, Waluigi interrupted the quiet.

"I think I have something!"

"Please tell me it's _useful_ ," Heaven rubbed her temples and shot Waluig an accusing glare "Not some random fact about a non-important criminal or murder."

Waluigi shrank back and cleared his throat. "Yes. I found something about our 'criminal', so to speak." She waved her hand in a circular motion, signaling him to get with the point. "The secret to his power is the scythe he wields. It gives him regenerative powers. In order to kill it we have to shatter it."

She leaned upright and grinned as Waluigi's intensive stare continued down the page. "Sounds simple enough." It was so simple that a feeling of unease was drifting into her. "Too simple…There's more, isn't there?"

"Unfortunately." His lips fell into a frown and his eyes shut. "That scythe has a heated barrier that protects him-the reason it has to be broken. That heated barrier is something only he can hold-though technically someone with the power of God or Satan could wield it…but beside that-the only way to shatter it is to break the heated barrier-and the only way to do that is to freeze it."

Immediately Heaven's heart crashed down. They had no way to 'freeze' anything! How could they be expected to freeze his scythe? "You've got to be kidding me. There has to be something else! Anything!"

"Well there are a couple things-have the power of God or Satan and snap it like a twig." Heaven moved her hand to her forehead and groaned loudly. "Another is to trick him into sending him into oblivion…"

"What's that?"

"I think I saw something about that," Rango began flipping through the pages, his face scrunched and eyes determined. "Oblivion-it is a place that demons are sent to upon death, but another passage into it can be opened by Satan, God, or the Angel of Death." Heaven raised an eyebrow and dropped her lip into a deep frown. "Salim opens the hole to Oblivion with his scythe and pushes his victims in there."

"What is it?"

"Described as a place worse than hell. It's dark, like an endless abyss. You wander aimlessly, alone for all eternity, never to escape. It is a place of blindess, where each of the five senses forever mix with smells, feelings, and sounds unlike those even possible to create in hell itself. It is said to be a place created by Salim himself, and a place he wishes as a prison for Lucifer and future victims sent into Hell."

"So we have to get him to open that portal to Oblivion and get him in there? We can't even hold the scythe because of that heated barrier, so pardon my pun, _how in the hell are we supposed to defeat him?!"_

"By wielding the powers of Heaven and Hell," replied a familiar voice. Heaven stood abruptly and snapped her gaze over to see the stranger standing before them. His hands were behind his waist and his lips curved up just an inch. "Come with me. God and Lucifer have spoken, they have gifts to bestow upon you…"

"Eventually you're going to tell us who you are, right?" Heaven asked with ever growing suspicion. She'd been watching him every time he came around, he didn't often dodge their questions but he always answered in a way that both answered and didn't answer what they wanted to know. "You expect us to believe you're just some messenger for God or Satan? If so, which one?"

"I don't expect you to believe anything except that I, like so many in Hell, am siding with you and do not wish to see Samil take over. He must know his place."

"But-"

"With that said, come with me." He turned and began to walk away. Heaven looked back at the group to see them shrug. She set her books down with a heavy sigh and began following him, her friends followed quickly after her. "By the way, nice job taking those bikes from the Seven…Not a good idea, but they know you're serious now. It was good that you left them for them to retrieve, however…It shows something you're going to need when you face Samil."

"What's that?"

"The desire to do the right thing, perhaps. You need to be vigilant, strong in your faith, but also able to do the right thing-Samil and the Seven know how to tempt you into wicked acts-acts that will destroy you and prevent you from being able to stop him. Bear that in mind."


	7. Ch 7: Powers

Across the street and next to the bar where they left the bikes was an obscure shop that seemed almost out of place among the decayed appearances of the buildings. It was clad in red metal and resembled a miniature castle, and above its door was a sign that read 'weaponry'. "Was this here before?" Waluigi asked suspiciously. "I guess it doesn't matter, but anyway, you said powers of heaven and hell-so you mean?"

"Exactly that," the man replied, "As I have turned Rango's puppet into a weapon of hell." Heaven glanced to the puppet and lifted her eyebrows. She didn't know what to make of the whole 'powers of each' thing. What was the true difference? The man looked over at her and cleared his throat. "To wield the abilities of heaven is to have a temporary ability gifted by God himself and without consequence. To hold a weapon of Hell is to be granted an item or power of Hell that comes with consequence." Rango began to pale and Heaven looked over with uncertainty. "I'll explain in a moment, but in many ways a weapon of Hell can be the most powerful thing to hold-so it would have to come with consequence. An ability of Heaven is perfection, it won't have as many ramifications. God's nice like that…he's willing to give away his power for free as long as it's temporary."

"Do I detect sarcasm?" Heaven joked. The man shrugged his shoulders and led the group inside. The inside was surprisingly not as large as it looked on the outside, as it was just a small square with a front desk and a bunch of different weapons on the wall and in a display case. There were also bits and pieces of armor. "Is everything for sale? Is earth money allowed here?"

"'Earth money'?" The man chortled and shook his head. "By that standard you'd have to choose between American, Indian, the Euro, currency from all over-no, in Hell you will not be charged. Or-you would if you were a demon, you might have to give a pound of flesh or something. In here I'm making a special reprieve for you."

"Oh…" Heaven watched as the man walked up to the strange humanoid figure at the counter. He had a ball cap on that covered his dark, empty eyes, and a body full of cuts and covered in blood. Much like the librarian. "How come they look different than you, Salim, or even the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"Because they were once tortured souls while we never were. Some of us down here started out in the positions we hold while some worked their way up. Then some just like to look however they choose. There's no set way anyone has to appear down here. You see me how I am, this is the form I have always held-though with shorter hair, and much different than your human media portrays me as."

"Wait? You're portrayed in media on earth? Does that mean you're actually a particular legend?" She was excited by this new clue, but judging by the nonchalant expression on the stranger's face, he wasn't about to let them in on what legend in particular he was. "I guess you don't have to answer…"

"You'll find out soon enough. There is a reason you do not yet know."

"Just making sure you're not Samil in disguise or something."

"Would I help you if I was? Not to mention, would Samil have the time to bother with deceiving you?"

"No…to both, I guess." She watched the sales cashier behind the desk look to the stranger with great respect and fear. Her eyebrow rose up as the group followed. "So about these weapons, abilities, and so on…do we get to decide what we get or are they chosen?"

"As predestined as your very arrival." She stopped in her tracks and opened her mouth, but froze, unable to think of a response. As his words processed in her mind, she looked to the others, all of whom looked as confused as she was.

"What?"

"Unimportant for the moment." She wanted to smack him, to shout for the man to stop being so damned vague, but it was too inappropriate for her to do. He looked at her with a solemn frown and shook his head. "Have patience. You're always in such a hurry, but you will be fine. I think you will find that patience will open your eyes up much wider and allow you to see more."

The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the group encircled him. "It's not often God and Satan are on the same page. In fact, it's only happened once or twice before. Of the six of you that remain without weapons, the powers have strategically been selected for you." He pointed to the three small white boxes on the display shelf. "Heaven, Daisy, and mona-those are yours."

"Boxes?" Heaven was bewildered. What did a small box have that would help them? "I don't understand. You said this was supposed to help us…"

"It is. Take the one in the middle, it will give you a power of Heaven. This power, as I've said, is temporary but comes with great faith and will allow you to shine light on the darkest of demons-dispersing them."

Growing more curious by the second, she reached forward and took the middle box in her hands. The white surface of the box started to fade and her body began to glow with a bright aura. Her eyelids closed and she breathed in as peace swept through her. "I feel it." The aura faded, but the power was still present in her.

"With this you are capable of a couple things. One, you can create any weapon out of pure light-however that weapon cannot physically cut." She raised an eyebrow and looked over, opening her mouth to speak but remaining too baffled to do so. "The weapon can pierce into the spirit of a demon and disperse light into their soul. It can turn a black heart into light-and in doing so-a demon will perish."

"Whoa…" She looked to her hands and chuckled softly. She was nervous now, but happy to hear what her power was. She tried to visualize a sword, and after several seconds, a sword of light appeared in her hand. "Okay that's awesome. Look at this, guys!"

The others murmured as the blade's light filled the room. The stranger sighed as the demon behind the desk screeched. Seeing the creature's pain, she immediately vanished the blade and apologized quickly. "Heaven please remember something about that blade-the blinding light it gives off may be able to blind the weakest of demons, but it won't do that to the stronger. Just as with each demon-the number of times you have to 'cleanse' them of the darkness in them depends on how strong they are. A shot in the heart will almost always take them out in one hit, however."

"Just like a real blade."

"Yes. That _is_ a real blade. Now, Mario has been given a polar opposite." She looked over as the receptionist lifted a simple chipped blade with his hand. "Mario, take hold. It may look broken, but in your hands it will take true shape." Sinjin cautiously took the handle and pulled the blade back, thanking the demon in the process. Suddenly, fire gushed out, engulfing the now sturdy blade and startling everyone in the room.

If Heaven had been granted 'Heaven's Blade', then this must be 'Hell's Blade'.

"That sword, Mario, can cut through any material, and it will not break. Crash it into the ground and cracks will break loose, emitting fire from them-you can control where these cracks go with a simple turn of your eyes. But because this is a weapon of hell there is a repercussion." Mario sheathed the blade and frowned at the man. "The downfall is in the number of lives it claims. The more demons you kill, eventually that blade will melt into you and you will slowly begin to lose your now stable and rational mind…"

"What?" Mario looked down anxiously and shook his head. "What's the limit?"

"The reason you've been gifted with that is because you have some wisdom about you. You will be able to know to use it wisely. That blade can only take about fifty lives before it begins to affect the mind. However the desire to use it is tempting. Try not to use it in every conflict and you will be fine."

"Okay." This worried Heaven, but she had faith Mario would be able to deal with the sword just fine. They were a team, so if he had any issues, they'd help him. "So Heaven's got the ability to purify, I can pretty much destroy anything with limited use-before you continue, you might explain what Rango's 'affliction' is in regards to the puppet?"

"Yes." Rango froze and slowly looked down to his puppet, swallowing hard as the man crossed his arms. "You will have to give up the puppet eventually as you'll notice it will overheat and eventually began creating boils on your arm-boils that will lead you to being forced to amputate it upon return to Earth." With that, Rango grew incredibly pale, but slowly nodded, seemingly understanding the order. "It's the hardest thing you'll ever have to do, I know, you're attached to that puppet-but if you don't give it up, it will destroy you."

"I-I understand…"

"Good." Heaven was beginning to understand the purpose of hell's afflictions, they were all tests on desires and temptations. "Now Mona, take the box on the right if you will." She watched the timid girl reach out to receive her 'gift' from Heaven. "Another temporary power of course, but this gifts you with incredible sight." Heaven's eyebrows drifted up as the girl started to absorb the light. "Not only can you sense danger through your intellect, you are gifted with the ability to transform into anything and anyone that you see and recall-this gives you a limited use of the abilities of those you transform into."

"Okay." Mona set the now dulled box down and looked up to the man with anxious eyes. "So if I were to change into Samil, I would be a 'weakened' copy of him?"

"Yes, but you would still be much stronger than many demons you may and will face here. Yet, transforming into Samil can also be very dangerous for you, I would not recommend it. You can also only hold a transformation for about fifteen minutes-and can only make five changes every hour. After that you must wait half an hour before making another change."

"I understand. Thank you…"

"All right, Andre…you're up next." Iggy stepped forward, shivering as he looked to the demon behind the counter. The creature lifted up two gold pistols, one of which was much larger and held a giant curved blade. Iggy took them in his hands and examined them closely with his eyes.

"S-So what are these? I mean, I know guns, but…"

"The one you hold in your right hand holds a devastating, hellish power. It will unleash explosive bullets like that of your earthly rocket launcher-it will blast a hole in almost anything-and the weaker demons it will cause to explode in entirety." Iggy's eyes began to widen and he quickly looked to the second gun. "That holds, as you can see, a large blade of destruction. It is attached to a chain and allows you to fire it at high speeds into your opponents. It also has a hook which would allow you, upon pulling the trigger a second time, to bring the blade back-the hook will bring the enemy back with you if you so desire. Combine the two guns-holding the enemy in place with the blade, and shooting them with the explosive weapon-can make for a great combination."

"There's a drawback-there's a big drawback-isn't there?"

"I'm afraid so." The man smirked and closed his eyes. "They're overly destructive and if you use them in small places you can destroy everything including yourself and your entire team." A snicker rose in Heaven, forcing her to push it back down while Iggy narrowed his eyes.

"Being a smartass so soon?"

"It's who I am, can't help it." The man folded his arms over and looked towards the guns. "However they will only provide accurate shots if you're confident…fear and anxiety, and even not taking these weapon seriously can prove to be fatal for your team. You like to joke, but the time for play is now over, Iggy."

There it was, the drawback Heaven was waiting for. Iggy had been trying to provide amusement and had also been, like Rango, shielding himself behind the confidence of the others. Now he had to up the ante and bring his A-game, or else he could bring down the entire team. "The shots take incredible focus, Iggy, they'll go to whatever mark you aim them at-but only with focus."

"All right, I know-great power and great responsibility, right?"

"Yes, well…there is that, but even then you do not have the most arduous task." Heaven raised an eyebrow and looked over as the demon cashier extended a pair of gloves with long claws. The man took them and handed them over to a near hesitant Waluigi. "Take these and wield them. I will explain them after you put them on…"

"Why not just explain them now?" He grumbled. The man lifted his shoulders and waited as Waluigi slipped the gloves on. Then in a sudden moment, a red aura enveloped him and he extended his hands, screaming in pain. Daisy rushed to his side and took his arm.

"Waluigi! What's happening to him!"

"He will be fine," the man replied, "But step back." Daisy gasped out and Daisy instinctively grabbed her away. As they watched, Waluigi's scream continued to intensify. His body began to expand, growing more muscular and much taller than the rest of them. His face started to transform and a long snout formed with snarling teeth and drool. His hair grew longer and thick black fur sprouted along his body.

"Oh god! Waluigi!"

Waluigi grabbed his head, his scream turning into a blood-curdling howl as his nails grew long and sharp. "What's happening to me?" He roared, "I-I'm turning into a monster!"

"What you people on earth call a werewolf, yes." Waluigi's yellowed eyes hovered over the man and his thick chest began to heave. He started to lunge, but the man held up a hand, causing him to freeze on the spot. "You're going to have to calm down. This is a doing of all the anger inside of you-it is putting all that anger and wrath to good use."

"The hell it is!"

"Oh it is." The man smirked and clamped his index and thumb fingers together, forcing Waluigi to his hands and knees. Daisy rushed to his side and threw her arms around him. Anxious and concerned for her friend, Heaven rushed to Daisy with Mona by her side. "He will be fine, his anger gifts him with immense power-but there is a massive downfall. Similar to what the Hell Blade gives to Mario." Waluigi looked over to Mario, who raised an eyebrow at them.

"What's the downside?"

"His anger."

Heaven's eyebrow rose and her heart began to pound against her chest, "But I thought that was his strength?" The man slowly nodded and crossed his arms.

"It is both. If he lets his anger get the better of him, the more kills he'll have and if he ever begins to enjoy those kills, he will lose his very soul and his very life." Daisy yelped as Waluigi began to grumble. "More over the more he kills, the more the scent of blood will delight him and overpower him-causing him to want to kill more. A desire he will need to calm, just as he will need to learn to be calm and not angered, as without anger comes control, but with anger comes more wild behavior. If he loses his soul enough, he will die. Or become so wild that one of you may have to kill him."

"So I have to learn to control my anger?" Waluigi rose to his hind legs and let out a soft growl. "Tell me I don't have to walk around looking like this forever."

"You do not. You can train yourself to change in and out of that form at will. Again, it is all about control. If you want to leave that form, meditate and calm your mind, focus on your human form and transform. Do the same to change back-it is just in your wild form that your anger fuels your every attack. You will have to learn to control that anger."

"Fine, I got it." Waluigi snarled and shut his eyes. All eyes fell onto him for a minute before his lips twisted into a snarl. His eyes shot open and he extended his furred hands before his face. "I can't change back! Damn it!" His fists balled up and he started to growl.

"You'll have to calm down first. Moving on. Daisy…take the remaining box." Daisy moved back from Waluigi and reached out, curling her right hand around the final box. As her eyelids slid down, the white aura surrounded her. "What you're gaining is power over the elements, you are able to summon storms. If you've heard the phrase on earth, 'cold day in hell', you can make it happen."

Daisy's eyes shot open and her lip twisted into a smirk. "So I can summon a blizzard, then?"

"Yes."

Seeing what this meant, Heaven was ecstatic. Finally, they had a way to shatter that heat barrier on Salim's scythe. "Great!" Heaven exclaimed, "Daisy, you can freeze that heat barrier on his scythe, we can beat him!"

"Ah but be careful," The man replied while lifting up a finger. "Salim may be immortal with that scythe-and with regenerative powers, but even without the scythe and the regeneration it gives him, he is still incredibly powerful. Another thing you may need to know: As long as Salim has his wings, he still has his power and can also restore his broken scythe."

"So we tear off his wings too," Waluigi pounded his fists together and huffed. "I can do that."

"You'll have plenty of time to think up strategies-" Screams echoed from outside, breaking everyone's concentration. Heaven snapped her gaze to the window in time to see a large black leg crash down outside. The group immediately ran out and were struck by the bellowing roar of a giant three headed dog. "Oh shit…Salim's already let him out? Looks like Lucifer's going to need a new dog…"

"Wait, what?" Waluigi raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder, "Cerberus fucking _exists?!"_

"Yes. I'm sure you can deal with him…I'll see you around."

"Wait don't leave!" Heaven exclaimed. It was too late, the man disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She looked back to the dog, who was now growling at the group and dripping drool down to the ground. "Well guys, now's a good a time as any to learn to handle these…powers…"

"Do we really have to kill it?" Mona asked timidly.

"It's after us. If Salim released it, then it's after us. Either we beat it, or it kills us-what do you want?" Mona let out a small whimper and closed her eyes. Waluigi stepped forward with a loud growl, snarling and flexing his hands. He stood about half the great beast's size-and Cerberus was nearing fifteen feet tall.

"Let me flex my muscles a bit-I'd love to take out a little irritation on this little pup…"

* * *

So we see a lot of ramifications with these powers and abilities-it's almost like their purpose is to also test their wielder. What are your thoughts on this chapter? Oh, and here's the first little bit of action, Hell's almighty guard dog...


	8. Ch 8: Dog Fight

"All right you overgrown, mutated mutt, let's do this." Heaven watched as Mario positioned himself before Cerberus. Her heart began to race as the dog smacked its paw on the ground three times. "Three heads are _not_ better than one, by the way. Allow me to show you why." Waluigi immediately latched onto the great demon's leg and began climbing it by digging his claws into it.

Cerberus roared and reached down to him with both heads on either side of him. "Oh shit-exactly what I thought." He released the leg and stretched his arms out, slamming his hands down on top of the snouts. His fingers curled and his claws dug in. Cerberus threw its heads back, howling in pain as Waluigi released him and plunged into the air.

"It's like a bungee jump!" As the creature shook its two heads, the middle head reached up to snap at him. He curled his body inwards, then kicked out, slamming his feet into the dog's nose. "Bad dog. Of _course_ Salim sends his little guard dog-pity."

Waluigi then landed on the creature's back. Heaven moved her hand over her mouth and looked to the others. "Mario, Iggy, someone needs to help him." Iggy nodded abruptly and lifted his explosive gun, but with a trembling hand. "Focus, Iggy…" Iggy whimpered as the mighty beast's right head glared at him.

Waluigi dug his claws into the creature's leftmost neck and began raking them downwards while Mario ran for the dog's tail, brandishing his sword. Iggy fired off a bullet and the target head leaned back as Iggy's bullet when curling into the air. Waluigi looked up into the air, shouting out. "You missed! You heard the guy-focus on the target!"

"It's not as easy as it looks, Waluigi!" Iggy looked over to Mario and whined. "If Mario takes the final blow, does it count as one soul or three?"

"I don't know," Heaven created the sword of light in her hand and looked up at the beast with a heavy sigh. She had no clue how to fight with a weapon, but now was as good a time to learn as any. Daisy gave her a concerned look and pointed to the blade.

"You okay with handling that thing, Star?"

"Dad always took Rosalina out to the shooting ranges and stuff like that, she's the one that knows how to fight. But at the very least, I've watched people fence before, so maybe…" She watched with despair as Cerberus swept Mario away with its now bloody tail. The dog's side head moved for Waluigi, but was swatted away. The head roared and flew backwards with an arc of blood trailing in the air.

"Not sure how much longer I can keep that up!" Waluigi declared.

"Hang in there," Mario rose up and swept a smudge of dirt from his face. He turned his sword downward and with a loud shout, slammed it into the ground. Cracks formed and followed his eyes to the massive beast, small flames shot up-burning the demon's heels. Cerberus howled and fell to his side, offering an opening for Heaven.

"Here I go!" She raced forward, brandishing the light sword behind her. Cerberus lifted his three heads and snarled at her. Waluigi lunged up at the topmost head and slammed down on it, forcing it into the other two. She looked away from its eyes and swept the blade into its right shoulder.

After impact, she moved backwards and watched as Cerberus's right front leg slowly turned from dark black to bright white. The dog howled in pain as light particles slowly drifted into the air until the leg was gone, replaced by a blood filled crater that healed over within seconds.

Amazed, Heaven looked to the light sword and tucked the corner of her lip into half a smile. "Wow. I can see how a stab to the heart would be fatal…" Of course, being of light, the sword's powers healed the flesh over, so at least there wouldn't be a mess of blood.

"Of course, that was a slash, not a stab…" To experiment, she stabbed the beast in the side, but instead of any appendage or part of his body being destroyed, it left a large white spot-to imply that a part of the darkness inside had been purified. "All right, I'm going for the heart of the beast."

It bothered her that what she was attacking was a dog, so she was trying to put that out of her mind. It frightened her, so no one could truly call this an act of bravado, she just wanted to finish it as quickly as possible.

She looked to see Waluigi sweep his arms inward, tearing further into the middle dog's neck. A lump formed in her throat as she watched the demon struggle under his grasp. "Thank god there's no Hydra down here," Mario muttered. Heaven's eyes widened and she looked over her shoulder at him as a burst of fear struck her.

"Hydra? As in the dragon with seven heads?"

"Pretty much."

"Ugh…as if we didn't have enough problems." She winced as Waluigi tore the head off the beast. He laughed as the remaining two heads roared viciously and dove in for him in a movement that caught him off guard.

"Shit!" He stumbled in dodging, then crashed to the ground below where the Cerberus trapped him underneath its left hind foot. He grabbed the paw and squirmed as the beast rose up above him, standing on its three legs. "Uh guys, a little help here!"

Another bullet flew from Iggy's gun, just missing the beast. "I-I can't focus!" he cried. Daisy screamed out for Waluigi while Mona and Rango stood frozen in place. Mario narrowed his eyes, scanning the beast.

"Heaven, do you see any openings?"

"N-No." Her body was paralyzed as she watched the beast drool over Waluigi. The man screamed in disgust as a large puddle landed on him. "It's going to eat me if I get any closer, Mario. Only reason I got close the first time was because he was down. Now he's standing and I'm just…I can't move."

"Come on Heaven, you'll be fine."

"No, you don't understand." She watched as the right head snarled at her and curled its lips upwards to bare its teeth. Her body trembled and the blade in her hand began to flicker. She looked down at it, whimpering as it seemed to dim and shrink. "I'm scared…" Was the blade's light also an extension of her spirit? Her faith?

"Fine. Just stand back and I'll try to deal with this." She bowed her head curdling as the shame began to take her over. Mario rushed for the demon, brandishing his flaming blade. Cerberus flung its head towards him and he quickly held the sword horizontally across, screaming as the beast bit down on the blade.

She watched as Waluigi continued slashing at the left head each time the creature attempted bite him. Mario managed to push the beast's head forward and slashed his blade outwards, cutting the creature's left cheek. He held his arm in front of his face as blood splashed down onto him.

Rango moved his puppet in front of his body and pulled the switch, sending a sonic blast at the creature. The left head's pointed ears moved flat against its head and its eyes narrowed as its lips curled into a vicious snarl. "Okay that didn't work," Rango muttered. Heaven frowned as he looked helplessly at the puppet. "The guard dog's too strong…"

Heaven looked down to the blade in her hand and let out a deafening whimper. Only the first fight and already she was letting her friends-no-her _sister_ down. The blade was now about the size of a dagger. She felt her legs beginning to buckle and clenched her eyes, wishing for Rosalina to come swooping and making the giant beast go away.

Unfortunately it wasn't happening. "God help me…" Tears formed in her eyes as she listened to Waluigi and Mario struggle against the beast.

"What's wrong, baby sister?" Heaven's eyes flew open and she looked around frantically as her heart began to race.

"Rosalina? Tri-is that you?" To her right she saw her sister standing beside her. Tears began to stream along her cheeks as she swallowed a hard breath of air. "Rosalina, I…" Was this a hallucination? Could Trina have escaped?

"Don't tell me you're giving up already."

"N-No!"

"Can't you do anything without me? You're strong enough to stand, and for once, you have to stand on your own. You can do this, you just have to have confidence, believe in yourself like I do."

"You really-"

Rosalina laughed and brushed her hair over her shoulder. "Well aside from the fact I don't have any other choice besides your friends…yes, I do wholeheartedly believe you can do this. You have no reason to be afraid."

"B-But these monsters are real, Rosie."

"And they can still go away little sis." Rosalina reached forward, placing her hand on her shoulder and looking her strong in the eyes. She felt a strange sense of calmness overtake her and a new, strange feeling swept her. Her lip trembled as she fought the urge to reach out and hug her sister.

"That blade you have, it can make them go away. You can still light these shadows up sis. You're strong enough, you can do this."

"I'm still scared, but I want to find you…I want to save you…I love you, Rosie, but I can't do it alone. I _need_ you." A whimper fell from her lips as Rosalina reached down and curled her hands around Heaven's.

"You're not alone baby sis. I believe in you, I always have…I also believe in your friends too-oddly enough. You have them standing beside you as well. Whenever you feel afraid, know they're there and know that I'll always be with you one way or another. Just believe in yourself as well."

"I do. I can do this, they may be scary but that's all they are…just big, scary creatures that still can die. They can die, can't they?"

"Yeah, I think they go to that Oblivion place upon death as well."

"Oh…" She cleared her throat and looked towards the Cerberus with greater determination. Rosalina's hand squeezed hers, comforting her more. Her blade then grew much larger and brighter than before. Nothing was stopping her.

"Now look at the beast, it won't take you long to figure out where the heart is." Rosalina pointed to the chest of the creature where its muscular shoulders curved and met to form the bottom of a V. She nodded slowly and pointed towards the spot.

"Right there?"

"Yep. Go for it." She clenched her hand around the handle and quickly stepped forward, not thinking of how powerful and large the beast was. It didn't matter, size was nothing to her. For the creature may as well be the size of a tiny lizard.

Distracted by Mario's slashes and Waluigi's tiring struggle, the beast did not see her hastened, adrenaline fueled approach. She thrust her blade forward with a powerful yell and watched as the demon's chest absorbed the blade like a syringe needle.

The creature howled as its body started flashing with white light. It thrust its head back and let out a fierce howl while trembling. Mario took this moment to dive in and pull Beck out from under the creature's paw, pulling him towards the group.

"I did it!" Heaven called out to her sister. "Rosr, I did it!" She looked around frantically once more, frowning when she saw her watchful, smiling sister slowly fading away.

"Good job, baby sis."

"Rosa…lina…?"

"I'll be waiting. I know you can do it…" She chuckled and smiled through her tears as the beast fell and faded behind her.

"I can do it too," she whispered, "I'll save you, Rosie. I promise. If it's the last thing I do, Salim won't win…"

"Heaven that was amazing!" The others surrounded her and Mario pat her on the back. Waluigi finally found out how to transform back to his usual self, but it may be because he was tired out and calmer than he'd been.

"Where'd you pull that out?" Mario inquired, "I thought you were too afraid?"

"It was Rosalina-she was just here." The others were perplexed and Mario looked around, frowning. Her heart sank and she lowered her eyes for a moment, exhaling softly. "You guys didn't see her after all. Maybe it was just my imagination."

"Whatever it was, it was needed, and more than helpful." He looked back to the residue on the ground where Cerberus had fallen. "We don't have much time to relax since we need to keep moving, but everyone did a good job."

"Hey Mario? Do you think maybe Rosalina's spirit really showed up to me or it was a hallucination?"

"I don't know, it could have been." He shrugged and looked over to her with arched eyebrows. "Anything is possible. She doesn't have control over her own self, but she's always been strong willed, so there might be a part of her in all this that is somehow separating and tying herself to you. I don't know, but all that matters is you were able to dispatch that beast."

"Yeah, I suppose so." It was the boost she needed, and hopefully, enough to carry her all the way to Samil's arena. "So much for Cerberus though."

"Cerberus is one of the tougher things here in Hell, tougher than some of the Seven." Mario pat her shoulder and gave her a gentle smile. "You took out Hell's guard dog, Heaven. You can take out anything if you put your mind to it, so don't you forget it."

"I won't. Thanks, bro." She gave him a quick sisterly hug, breathing in for a minute, then pulling away. "Let's go get Rosie back now."


	9. Ch 9: Rest and Training

"My legs are beginning to get sore back here," Rango muttered. Heaven glanced back to see Rango shaking his right leg. "Where's that strange guy at? Maybe he can give us some rides"

"Well we _had_ some rides," Iggy chuckled, "But we left them for the Seven." Surprisingly the Seven didn't come racing after them, but Heaven didn't want to take any chances. However, she could tell the group was getting tired. She didn't want to stop and rest for fear of something happening to Rosalina, but at the same time Samil wasn't going to do anything until after the fight. Or at least, that was if she chose to believe him. "Maybe we should stop and take a break? Practice our powers and stuff."

Mario frowned and folded his arms over, "After the whole fight with Cerberus, it may be a good idea." Heaven could see he didn't want to stop either, and likely he'd be too proud to admit that even he was showing signs of tiring.

"Yet the limited use weapons, I wouldn't recommend practicing with. Such as my puppet over there." Rango's face turned to dismay as he looked towards the puppet that was now his personal ticking time bomb.

"Yeah, it sucks." Rango glanced over at Waluigi and lifted his eyebrows. "I do have use elsewhere. I could show Waluigi here some deep breathing and calming tricks. Come on guys, let's take a break and do some practice. We'll die if we just keep pushing through without rest."

Heaven peered ahead, grumbling softly as Mario turned to her. "I hate to say it, but your friends are actually right."

"Than-wait a minute…Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Heaven stifled a laugh and bowed her head, smirking as her friends shot a glare to Mario . Unlike Rosalina, who finally started coming around to them a while back, Mario never liked them all that much for some reason that she didn't understand. On one other coin she did understand that he thought they were all self-centered, arrogant pricks-evidenced by what he told them when they were all going ballistic over trying to get followers on _Facebook._

"If we don't rest, we will be too weary and exhausted by the time we reach Samil. We'll lose in a moment."

Heaven inhaled and moved her hands towards her hips as she stopped walking and looked at her surroundings. To her left, a little ways off the trail and seated on a hill was a wide open field that had rocks scattered throughout. It would be a perfect place to stop and get some rest. "All right, I know we need to rest and we need to train. Rosalina was always resting after intense training because the muscles don't grow if you keep working them without stopping."

She led the group to the center of the field and spread her arms out. "Here you go, the entire field is yours. If you want to sleep, go ahead-though I'm not sure how comfortable that will be. If you want to train, train. We'll get back on the road in, what, maybe a couple hours is a good amount of time?"

"It sounds fair," Mario moved beside a pile of rocks and lay on his back. He pushed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Heaven felt more like practicing with her own abilities. She could materialize more than just a sword-despite it being her favorite blade.

She watched Rango's guide Waluigi over to a tree and sit down with the man, both of them closed their eyes and proceeded to breathe deep and slowly. Andre stepped up beside her and pointed down the field. "I'm going to go down there and practice with my guns. I don't want to be too close to the group because I don't want to hit anyone…."

"All right, just stay in sight, Andre. If something happens, we need to be able to see each other."

"Okay."

As she looked towards the other, she saw Mona transform into Pauline. She was astounded that of all the people Pauline would make her first transformation as, it would be would have thought to do Samil, to try and learn more of his secrets. Her eyebrow rose up as the girl looked over nervously. "What? I miss her." Mona folded her arms and looked down to the ground. "I wonder what's going on up there right now and how long we've been down here for."

"Time does move differently down here," Daisy answered sadly, "I confirmed that back at the library. In what's a short amount of time on earth, years could take place here. It's really true."

"Better that way than the other way around if you ask me."

"Yeah." Daisy walked off a few feet and closed her eyes. "I'm going to try and stir up a storm."

"Try focusing on blizzards and cold temperatures." She heard a whirring noise and snapped her gaze over to see Mona turning into Samil. Her lip curved up into a smirk as Mona materialized the demon's scythe. "Notice anything, Mona?"

"Yeah. The scythe feels warm. So he really does have a barrier."

"Let me try something." She reached out to touch the scythe, but almost immediately a burning sensation forced her hand away. She let out a loud yelp and shook her hand. "Okay, won't be doing that when we face the real thing!"

"Are you okay, Heaven?"

"I'm fine. Just wanted to see if it was accurate what we read about the scythe."

"Now let me try something!" Daisy called out. The wind around them began to whistle and the air grew dense and chill as white clouds surrounded them and created a fog, much to Heaven's amazement.

When she looked at Daisy, she saw a stunning sight. Daisy's eyes were a light pink color, her hair and clothes were flailing in all directions, and a haze of snow had surrounded her like a force field. Daisy focused her eyes on the scythe and Mona pushed her arms forward, holding it in front of everyone.

Daisy swept her arms inwards and connected her two index fingers by the sides. When she pointed towards the scythe, the violent freezing winds and snow began rushing towards the weapon. Heaven watched as a solid layer of ice began forming around it. After several seconds the ice shattered and fell off. Daisy's arms fell to her sides and Heaven glanced up to Mona inquisitively.

"It feels really cold now," Mona remarked, "And fragile like the heated barrier is gone now. Here, feel it…" She handed the scythe over and Heaven hesitatingly took it in her hands. Remarkably, the scythe felt like a frozen popsicle. Smirking deviously she held it horizontally before her chest and grasped it firmly with her fingers. "What are you doing?"

"Going to see if I can snap it in two."

"Be careful…"

"Thanks for the warning." She slammed the scythe down and kicked her right leg up, striking it. Instead of snapping, a shot of pain ran through her and she dropped the weapon to grab her leg, screaming out angrily. "That thing hurts!"

"Step back!" Iggy called out. The girls looked over to see him aiming his explosive gun for the scythe. They moved back several feet, out of firing range, and watched nervously as he narrowed his eyes and fired off a shot.

The bullet hit the scythe, creating a massive explosion and sending a mushroom cloud up into the air. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a massive crater and the splintered remains of the scythe and its blade. Iggy pulled his gun back and blew over it, smirking with pride.

Heaven's jaw dropped as the girls remained stunned at the massive power behind the shot. "Wow. Okay, so we know one way to destroy the scythe…" Heaven looked up to Iggy and exhaled slowly. "Unfortunately that's only with Mona standing still in his form-not to mention everything's a little weaker than Samil actually is…"

"Granted it would be more difficult," Daisy nodded in agreement, "But we have something to work with now. He's still powerful without it, sure…I don't know-" Daisy turned her head over her shoulder and Monashrugged. "Do you feel any different power wise?"

"Not really." Mona extended her arms before her and spread her hands out. Black drops fell from her fingertips and started to come together, forming a shadow on the ground. She stepped into it and sank down, startling the group. Heaven ran for the circle and looked around frantically, stopping when she saw a circle open five feet away and Mona rising up out of it. "Nope, Samil's still got his power. Except, there's no regeneration or immortality, I can feel _that_."

"You can?"

"Yeah. When the scythe shattered, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me." She spread her wings out and pointed towards them. "These things are where his power is at, though. I think if you try tearing them off me, it's going to hurt, so I'd prefer _not_ doing that."

"Understandable." Heaven folded her arms and looked at the scattered bits of ice. She was curious if Daisy could summon anything else up, or if it was just a blizzard. She had control over the elements, over storms and weather patterns, so likely she had to be able to summon other things. "Daisy, can you summon anything else? Tornado? Earthquake?"

"I can definitely try."

"I think if we caught Samil in a tornado, he'd have trouble stabilizing himself in the air. Wouldn't you?"

"Maybe."

Mona blinked a couple times and sighed, "Oh boy." She lifted herself into the air as Daisy lifted her arms. After several long seconds of trying to focus, Daisy finally managed to summon a thick grey tornado. It wasn't as large or strong as it could be, but understandably Daisy had to practice in order to get it to a stronger point.

Heaven watched as the tornado moved towards Mona . Mona braced herself and clenched her eyes shut, screaming as she entered the mighty wind. She flew out of the tornado, stumbling in the air as she flapped her wings for balance. "I can't steady myself guys!" She flung towards the ground, crashing hard beside Heaven. Her body trembled and she let out a soft moan. "Let's not do that again." Daisy dropped the tornado and frowned at her as Heaven knelt beside her friend and gently pat her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that, Mona ."

"It's fine, I'll heal."

"I won't make you do that again though, okay?"

"Why not? It's good practice, good learning." Mona pushed herself up and dusted off her arm with a heavy sigh. "The more we find out about Samil, the better, right? I might be a weakened copy of him right now, but it's still useful. You know, he can travel by way of shadows like what I just did."

"Yeah, you kind of freaked us out when you did that."

"Sorry. He's got a lot of good powers-but I'm also noticing another thing. I can open up the portal to Oblivion." Heaven's jaw dropped. Daisy and Iggy gasped out and hurried over as Mona started to grin. "As Samil, it's one of the things I can do. So it's possible, if we timed it right, that I could open it and we could get him in."

"Not bad, Mona! Not bad at all." This was great news, but of course, they'd had enough training for a little while and Heaven didn't want to cause Mona anymore pain. "We'll keep strategizing, but first, some rest." The others agreed and moved over to sit down beside Mario, who didn't budge at their presence. Heaven smirked and shook his head. "He's already asleep." She let out a loud yawn and Daisy slowly looked up as a strange, pleasant fog started to roll around them. "I'm...getting tired too...Maybe just a little nap."

"Are you sure, Heaven?"

"Yeah. Let the others train some more." Daisy looked away for a minute, watching the others walk off. When she looked back, Heaven was asleep beside her brother-in-law.


	10. Ch 10: Temptations

Practicing with the powers of weather was not an easy task, since it cause Daisy to use so much of her energy. Yet, the more she practiced the better she'd be able to endure as far as she believed. Waluigi was now sulking beside a tree stump that remained from a tree he pulled apart as his wolf form. Iggy and Mona were in their own places not far while Rango was off doing his own thing.

As for Heaven and Mario, both were sound asleep by the same rock. As Daisy watched them, she studied their twitching faces and shifting eyelids. "It's strange seeing them sleeping so soundly," Daisy whispered as Waluigi sulked over to her side. With their lives and Rosalina's on the line, the thought of them sleeping was hard to believe. "You'd think they'd be more active."

"It's alarming," Waluigi replied, "It's almost as if they're having nightmares right now." Could a demon be making them sleep? In Hell, anything was possible, a concept she was forced to grasp. "Daisy. Do you really think we can win this fight?" She pulled her lip back into a frown and closed her eyes, exhaling softly.

"Samil is strong, but we're stronger. We have to be." She leaned her head onto Waluigi's shoulder and moved her hand to his back, curling her fingers into his black fur. "You don't doubt us, do you? I know I jumped in because I wanted to help them get Rosalina back-but all of you? You jumped in for me, Waluigi. Rango jumped in after Mona -who I know jumped in for Heaven and Rosalina. Iggy just followed you in because he follows you everywhere. He's a follower more than a doer."

She felt him move behind her and hug her waist. His chin set on the tip of her head and his strong arms held her protectively. She melted back into him and her heart began to race. "I don't doubt anything, Daisy. I'm just making sure you really want to do this. I mean…Our souls are on the line for Rosalina -and to be perfectly honest, none of us have been friendly to her until at least last year." She rolled her head to the side, her eyes drifted to the ground and her lips fell into a frown. "And of all people, you were the last to be friends with her…so is she really worth our souls?"

"Waluigi, what are you saying?"

Something didn't feel right-how could Waluigi just decide to question this when he didn't question it before? Had he been questioning it all along, or was there something else afoot? Daisy lifted her hand to her shoulder, curling her finger around his. "You're a lot calmer now Waluigi. Why…are you still the wolf? I thought you didn't like the form?"

"It's growing on me." Her eyebrow arched up and her head moved upright. Her nostrils flared out as she begin to notice a fog surrounding the area-a fog she had not generated. Her eyes drifted towards Mario's and Heaven's sleeping bodies and her face tightened. "They're probably not going to wake up anytime soon-we could just continue on and find Samil, tell him to let us go back."

"But Rosalina's counting on us."

"She doesn't care. She's counting on her sister and her friend…"

"He's her fiancé, Waluigi." Her heart continued to pound as she searched for a source of these ominous clouds. Doubt. The clouds of doubt. "Waluigi…would you think in Hell there might be a demon of doubt?"

"Come again?"

"A demon…that plants clouds, seeds of doubt…" Mario and Heaven had their mouths wide open and their chest was beginning to convulse as though they were struggling to breathe. "Where's this fog coming from? Also…why would we tell Samil to send us home?"

"It isn't too late. What do you really care for Rosalina ? You and the others never liked her." For a long time this was true, but she started befriending Rosalina on the basis of common ground-through an experience she'd never spoken to Heaven about. Hell, she was learning self-defense from her.

"Trina was teaching me martial arts, you know that. She was mentoring me. We shared stories, started a friendship…" Waluigi let out a light scoff and Daisy slid her eyes into narrow slants. Throughout the heavy haze, she could make out the figures of all her friends. Something was dreadfully wrong, however, for each one looked as though there were two shadows instead of one. "Of course I care about Rosalina , and I want to save her. You should know that…"

"You don't have to. Fighting Samil is just pointless-we're all going to die, Daisy . It's useless. Besides, we can make new friends…" She whined and shook her head while clenching her fists tight. "I think you know in your heart what's right."

"Yes. I do." Heaven was counting on her as well. Heaven and Mario both needed them, all of them. She understood why this was happening, however, this test. It wasn't just her-the entire place was filled with demons of doubt, tempting the friends away. "If we leave them, Waluigi…they'll die." The two bodies on the ground continued to twitch and were slowly turning purple. These weren't her clouds of doubt-they were the friends-running the risk of succumbing to their own doubts. "This haze is killing them anyway." Not to mention, she had a suspicion that if they gave in, they would all die as well.

"So let them, we'll be able to go back to earth and live our own lives. Just think of your family."

Her eyelids sealed over and a light scoff drifted from her lips. Now her own concerns were confirmed, but why would a demon slip up so badly? Waluigi, of all people, knew that her 'family' was terrible. The whole reason they ever became friends at first was because their common ground was how terrible their mothers were. Hers was physically abusive, and his did everything in her power to shove her religion down his throat and repeatedly tell him he was going to go to Hell if he didn't do what she said.

"Okay Waluigi, you're right." Her lip tucked into a smirk and she spun around, peering into his golden eyes. "I should think of my family, except…" She took a step back from him and narrowed her eyes as he dropped his arms. "My mother would want me as dead as Waluigi's. You can't tempt me, I know why I want to save Rosalina . She is my friend as much as Heaven is." She slammed her foot on the ground, causing the ground below them to rumble.

The demon fell onto it's back, changing away from Waluigi's form. It looked up with wide eyes as she lifted her arms up into the air. Thunderclouds formed in the sky and lightning bolts shot down at the creature. "I'd say go to hell, but you're already here, so just go away!" The creature screamed in anguish as she electrocuted him multiple times.

Her eyes shot over to Heaven and Mario, a gust of wind blew over them, blowing away the clouds of doubt that surrounded them. Their bodies then relaxed and the color slowly began returning to them as their chests rose and fell. The haze of doubt was still thick, which meant her work was not yet.

"I cannot believe they're giving in! They're stronger than this, better than this…" Hell, they were on friendly terms with Rosalina before she was. " Mona." Mona , of all people, was first and should not be giving in. " Mona! Where are you!"

As she looked around frantically, she heard Mona's voice utter her name. Moving to the right, she ran in the direction of her friend. It was there she found Mona on her hands and knees before a Demon of Doubt in the form of the girl's roommate, Pauline. Tears were streaming down Mona's face and her body was trembling.

"I can't do it, Daisy. I'm not strong enough, I want to go back to Pauline …"

"No! You can't! Don't listen to it, it isn't Pauline !" The demon looked over to her and narrowed her eyes.

"Stay out of this, Sarasa . You cannot interfere."

"The Hell I can't!" A lightning bolt shot down, striking through Pauline. Daisy'seyes widened and she quickly looked at her hands, whimpering softly as realization dawned on her. "Shit…" This was Mona's test. She couldn't kill Mona's doubt demon like she had her own, but in the very least, she could let herself be heard. "Mona! Mona listen to me, this is a demon of doubt-they're killing Mario and Heaven as we speak! If you give in, we're going to die."

Mona began to whimper, looking up helplessly at the demon. "D-Daisy?" The demon knelt before her and moved her hand under Mona's chin.

"Oh sweet Mona, don't you worry. Come back home and everything will be fine."

"W-What?"

"I'll make your favorite dinner, I'll babysit for you while you go spend time with Wario . You don't have to worry, besides, you don't spend as much time with the others anymore anyway."

"No!" Instantly Mona rose to her feet, shoving the demon away, much to Daisy's surprise. " Pauline would never say that! She wouldn't talk like that! You're not Pauline and I'm not going anywhere until we save Rosalina." The demon scowled for a split second as Mona staggered backwards. " Pauline doesn't make dinner-I cook. She's also too lazy to babysit without me, so I know better! You can't tempt me…"

"No, Mona, you don't understand-"

"It's over!" Mona immediately shifted her form into Rosalina and leaned back to lift her leg up and strike the demon sharply in the neck. She then performed a backflip over the demon, spun in the air, and came crashing down into it, slamming her knee into its groin and her fist into its jaw. As the demon faded away, Mona returned to her true form and looked over shamefully. "I'm sorry, Daisy …I-I almost gave in."

"You're okay. The others are going through the same thing, I think. We need to hurry." Daisy looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. "You go for Rango, I'll find Waluigi."

"Okay."

It did not take long to find Waluigi on his knees before the image of his mother. The woman had The Book of Mormon in her hand and was pounding it into the palm of her other hand, scolding her son. "What are you doing here? Eighteen years I've spent trying to keep you out of hell."

"I'm sorry mom…"

"This is the influence of that girl of yours, isn't it! She's always been the demon seed! But I forgive you-I will forgive you if you leave. This Star girl doesn't mean anything to you, does she? You've only just become friends with her. As far as her little sister goes…well, she was a demon seed too." Waluigi clenched his eyes as the woman reached out and caressed his cheek. "See what they did to my baby? Come home. Everything will be fine."

Daisy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, putting aside her own feelings of sorrow. The words the demon said matched what his mother would say, and they hurt, but she wasn't going to let them affect her. "Go ahead Waluigi-if the Stars truly mean nothing to you, if I mean nothing to you, go on and go home." Waluigi looked away from his mother, bewildered. His jaw fell as the woman scowled.

"But Daisy?"

" Heaven and Mario are dying, Rosalina's dying-we're all going to die-but I'm not going to give up." Waluigi rose to his feet, staring dumbfoundedly at her. "Maybe it's best if you leave." She didn't want him to go, but her words were the only way she was going to get through to him. "I mean, you need to listen to your mother some time in your life, right? But still…" She looked over to the demon and shrugged again. "I don't know how your mother got into hell, do you?"

"Wha-" He turned his head to the demon, his chest expanded and his lips curled into a scowl as a low growl vibrated from him. "It isn't her-and I will never listen to her. Daisy and the Stars are not 'demons', you're the demon!" With a mighty roar, Waluigi swept his claws through the air, slashing through the demon's face.

He continued to pummel the creature, roaring with each strike. "I'm not leaving them to die, wench! I refuse-I didn't lay my soul on the line just to give up now and lose!" The demon vanished away and the heavy fog began to clear some more. With a smile, Daisy moved forward and set her hand to Waluigi's shoulder. He looked up at her with a frown and pain filled eyes. "Daisy, I-"

"You know I don't want you to give up, right? What I said-it was all to get you thinking in the right place again."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." He rose up and threw his arms around her. She took a deep breath and hugged him back.

"Demons of Doubt, they've been trying to make us give in-it's creating this heavy fog that was killing Heaven and Mario. I think they're also the reason those two are asleep."

"The others? They're all caught too?"

"Well Mona's actually gone after Rango . We can't interfere, I couldn't kill anyone else's doubt demon. I can just help them to think on a more rational side, I guess."

"Okay, so we need to go find Iggy, then."

"Yeah. Where was he last?"

"Just a few feet from me." Waluigi sniffed the air and chuckled. "Benefits of being a wolf come with heightened senses-he's this way." He ran off and Daisy followed him. "You know I do want to save Rosalina too, right? I really do."

"I know Waluigi. We all do, it's just easy to tempt us because our hearts weren't there years ago. The demons are trying to reach the part of us that didn't give two cents about Rosalina-the parts that would be willing to just not care…and I know that's all in the past."

"It is."

When they found Iggy, Rango and Mona had already beat them to him. Iggy was standing in front of his demon, who had revealed its truer form. "You're too late," Iggy growled at the creature. "I already made my decision when the others made theirs." Iggy pointed his blade gun at the creature and smirked dangerously. "I'm not too afraid to help them, so goodbye."

With one shot, the blade shot from the gun and sliced through the demon's skull. As the creature dropped to its knees, the final bit of clouds faded away and the area was clear once again. "Iggy, are you all right?" Daisy asked to make sure. He holstered his gun and nodded at her, smiling sadly.

"It made me doubt that I would be a help at all, saying I was too afraid to be any use…"

"Well you're not. We're all a team, okay?" The others agreed with her and followed her gaze over to where Heaven and Mario lay. "Those two need us. If we stick together we really can do this-but if any of us doubt whether we're an asset to the team, then we really will be, and we'll end up being the death of Heaven, Mario, and Rosalina . There's no room for liability, guys…think about it like a car, right? If one wheel goes out, what happens?"

"The car stops functioning properly?"

"Exactly…so if any of you start to feel like you're not a worthwhile part of the team, let us know so we can talk about it and help each other out."

"Right."

"Let's check on the others." Daisy led them over to Heaven and Mario, standing over them as the two began to wake.

"What happened?" Heaven moaned. Mario sat up and rubbed his head, groaning loudly.

"My head feels like someone dropped a load of concrete on me-and my lungs are on fire."

"You guys are okay now though," Daisy said with a smile. Heaven and Mario raised an eyebrow as the group nodded in agreement. "We probably need to get moving though. You've been sleeping for a while now."

"What?!" Heaven froze as Mario grew horrified. "How long!"

"Probably not too long, but we need to keep moving-or at least we need to get away from this area." The others helped them to their feet, then began guiding them away. Daisy hung in the back and glanced over her shoulder at the barren field once more.

She felt like they were a stronger team now, or at least she hoped they would be. They had to look after one another, and hopefully, avoid these fatal doubts from here on out.

* * *

 **Author Note:** It's a good thing they were able to not be swayed by their doubts, but it was pretty close. Very likely if they had, Heaven and Mario would have died. Indeed they need to remember they are a team.


	11. Ch 11: Judgment

"There's something they're not telling us," Mario muttered as he stepped in stride beside Heaven. She looked over her shoulders and shrugged-not really caring.

"If it's important, they'll tell us." Her mind was still reeling from some strange fog that had clouded her, and she was struggling still to regain her breathing. Whatever went down while she and Mario were asleep, the others saved them. "You know, even Rosalina sees the good in them. Nobody's perfect. They wouldn't maliciously hold information from us."

"Oh, they wouldn't? You mean like how Daisy didn't tell you about the blood loss at the hospital a couple years ago until maybe a few months ago? Or how about Waluigi, Iggy and Rango restraining your sister?"

"We're all past that, Mario."

"As am I, but I'm just saying…" His pride was a heavy hitter, that much was certain. She knew if he wasn't careful in his emotions here, the Seven would find them-and Pride being the worst of all-she did not want to have to face him. Heaven never understood his distaste for the group-it ran well before she ever met Daisy, Iggy, and the rest. Hell, she was certain it stemmed from before Trina ever met them-and if that were the case-it would have to be a fairly old grudge because Sinjin and Trina knew each other when they were only ten years old!

"What is it that you don't like about them, Mario?"

"You mean besides the vanity?"

"I know there's a lot about how they've interacted with me and my family that you don't like, but besides that…I don't think you've ever liked them. Why?" When she looked over, his jaw tightened and his shoulders rose. "Mario?"

"There's nothing to talk about. You're right, we're a team, so let's just focus on that. I don't need a reason not to like somebody. I remain cordial, isn't that enough?"

"Sure. There are people I don't like just because they rub me the wrong way."

"Exactly. They have always assumed themselves to be the best thing since sliced bread, long before you or Rosalina ever knew them. Maybe they'll see things differently-it seems like they're really going to be tested down here." He had a point, she could see how each of them had something that they had to work on-perhaps it was accepting that they were as flawed as anyone else.

"Yeah, but so are you." She pointed to his sword, reminding him as well of his weapon of Hell. "Don't let your pride destroy you, Mario. I don't want to see something happen to my brother-I know Rosalina won't be happy if she's forced to lose you." He gazed down at his blade with a frown and Heaven peered ahead, stricken with her inner grief. "When we get her back, she's going to need you."

"I understand. Trust me, I'm perfectly aware of whether or not I'm sinking."

"We all have something." Heaven listened quietly to her friends talking amongst each other-none hearing the conversation she was having with Mario. She was pleased about it too, because she didn't want them to know what was going on through her mind or with Mario. "For me, you know I'm still dependent on everyone. If I were alone here…"

The image that shot through her mind paralyzed her for a split second. She was imagining herself standing in the middle of a circle of demons, cowering as they all descended upon her.

Mario raised an eyebrow as she shook away the visual and continued moving. "You okay?" Her arms trembled as her hands became soaked with a cold, clammy sweat.

Heaven swept her hair over her shoulder and replied with a weak smile. "Yeah, it's nothing." In Hell, the demons-or maybe just Samil, she wasn't sure-they knew their inner fears. The inner anxieties and demons that they held inside. In that sense, Hell itself was the arena-or maybe the arena was their minds-as this place could use their darkest desires against them. "Just remember that we are all a team, and we need to bear this in mind because Samil's going to throw everything at us, right?"

"Whatever he can, yes. You hate water, so don't be surprised if we find ourselves having to cross some deep lake put in our path by Samil." A shiver ran down her spine as Mario glanced to the friends behind them. "If that were the case, you know I-and surely all of them-would help you get across."

"You don't think that'll happen though? Our worst fears being used against us? I mean it was just a thought for me, but if it's more of a possibility than that?"

"We should all just be prepared. I don't know what your friends went through while we were asleep, but it clearly deeply affected them. How it affects them exactly, I don't know, but I can see it on their faces. _Something_ happened, and they just don't want to talk about it."

"Yeah-they'll talk when they're ready." It wouldn't surprise her if demons had been plotting to kill the friends, or separate them somehow. The less of them that there were, then the less likely she and Mario would be successful. "Another thing, if Samil or the demons since _any_ hostility among us-and yes I am talking to you." Mario huffed and crossed his arms. Her eyelids slid down halfway. "-They might just use that against us. So if we are going to be a team-we need to be a united team."

"Isn't the phrase-a house divided amongst itself cannot stand?"

"Yeah, that's the phrase. Proverb, actually, I think."

"If it weren't for the limitation on my sword, I could probably tear through all these demons and get to Samil myself." She laughed once and reached over, patting him on the shoulder. "I'm just saying. There's nothing I'm going to let stand in my way."

"When are you going to trust them, Mario? Give them a chance to show you they're not as bad as they seem." He scoffed under his breath and Heaven withdrew her hand. In his eyes she could see something deeper than she understood, but what it was she couldn't understand. "Did they do something to you? You say it has to do with stuff that happened even before you knew _Rosalina_. So…was it something school related? I mean, what? Did Daisy take a carton of milk from you in third grade or something?"

"Nothing so trivial. I'm not petty enough to hold grudges over stuff like that, Heaven ."

"Trust and lack of honesty will only stop us from getting my sister back, Mario. If there's something, _anything_ that you're holding back, then don't." His brow furrowed and the corner of his lips sank down. "Look Mario. Screw my friends, okay? I don't mean that in a bad way, just…in a way to say whatever you need to say and get off your chest for Rosalina's sake, do it. She's your fiancé. She can't afford to be endangered because you, or I harbor any resentments-or even that the friends might doubt or dislike any one of us. If there's anything that needs to be said, let it out."

"Would you be willing to do the same thing?" She froze and her eyes widened as he turned is head to her. She could feel her heart throbbing violently in her chest as a dull ache spread over her body. "Think about it Heaven, I'm not the only one with secrets. Neither are they and neither are you."

"I…yes, but…" Her hands began to tremble and she slipped them into her pockets, turning away and tightening her facial muscles. "There are some things I just don't want them to know."

"Exactly. Like your crush on that boy, Daniel ? The thing that keeps popping up, right? Or that your best friend was, is, and always will be _Sofia_ and no matter what your friends do-"

"Enough, okay?" She took a deep breath and released a heavy sigh. "I have dependency issues, I know. I've got fears, that's true. There's even regrets I harbor and whatever, but honestly? What does it matter? Who does it affect besides myself?"

"I think it affects them too. What about getting your life on track? Graduating and going off to college. The only way to get into the college you want to, the one with that science program? They won't accept Hollywood Arts diploma, right?"

She clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes, her body tensed and her chest ached. "Mario. We are in the middle of Hell." She held her breath and threw her glare at him from the corners of her eyes. "We don't need to be separate or divided, and certainly we don't need to be arguing over something that demons and whatever other forces in hell can use against us!"

"I wasn't trying to argue."

"I know, I just don't want to talk about certain things."

"I'm in the same boat." He crossed his arms and started to walk ahead. Heaven watched him closely and drew out a sharp exhale after a loud huff. What did she care if he had a problem with his friends? They all had issues, sure, and there were often times people didn't need to have a reason not to like someone. At the same time, she always knew him to be incredibly patient, he didn't just not like somebody. If ever there was someone he disliked, he had a reason, and usually it was a damn good reason.

"Why does it feel like my sister can never date someone that likes my friends?" She rolled her eyes and stopped herself on that sudden thought. In an instant, she wondered if Hell spanned over entire dimensions. It was impossible, but there were men that crossed her mind that she knew for a fact had never been involved in either hers or Rosalina's life. "What in the…hell was that?"

As she walked, the surrounding environment became shrouded in a haze. Her brow furrowed and her heart began to pulse as an ominous feeling overtook her in this new darkness. Five figures appeared before her, all in black shadows. The center figure revealed himself by stepping out of the shadows. _Mario_.

"Why are you bothering?" He remarked with a sharpened grin. His arms extended out and he looked to the two men on his right, then the two on his left. "We're just going to take her away from you. You're better off leaving her with Samil." Her breath caught in her throat and she moved her hand to her chest.

"No."

"You and that mother have done nothing but cause her grief," Spoke one of the two men on the right of Mario. Her eyes widened and she violently shook her head.

"N-No, that's not true!"

"That friend of yours?" Spoke the second man on the right. "Waluigi? He'd sooner see her dead than to see her saved!"

"That's a lie!"

"Is it? We could show you."

One of the men on the far left laughed, giving her a start. "Working in Sunset Heights would give her a happier life."

"Or even New Donk," remarked the second man on the left. "Just give up, your pursuit is hopeless. Rosalina doesn't even want to be with you."

Whoever these visions belonged to, Heaven knew they couldn't be right. Even Mario wouldn't talk like this. She grabbed her head and clenched her eyes shut, screaming aloud in the darkness. Was she alone? As her heart raced, she felt someone's hand on her shoulder.

"No!" She screamed and shot her eyelids up only to find herself surrounded by her friends, and Mario kneeling before her with his hand on her shoulder and a concerned look in her eyes. She was panting heavily and gazing back at him with a subtle whimper. "M-Mario? You'd never say that…never…"

"Never say what?" His face softened and his lips fell into a frown. "Are you okay? One minute you were walking, the next you just collapsed."

"What? I?" She looked around her, muttering to herself as he helped her to her feet. "Sorry." It had to be something Samil was doing, trying to shake her up by using her fears against her. Any demon in hell could do this. "It was a trick of Hell, nothing more."

"Okay. Well, as long as it's nothing serious. Just remember, like you were saying, we're all a team."

"Yeah, I know." She dusted off her pants and looked up at Mario. They walked ahead once more to talk while her friends were out of earshot, she didn't want them to hear what happened. "Mario. Can I…can I tell you what happened?"

"Sure."

"There were five men, four I couldn't recognize because they were hidden in the darkness, and the fifth was you." He raised an eyebrow at her and she bowed her head, fixating her gaze on the path in front of her. "I had a sense they were all related to Rosalina, but I don't think that's possible. Yeah, it's impossible, but they were all agreeing with you that Rosalina wanted nothing to do with me." She took in a quick breath and held it as her eyes darted to Mario. His lips parted and his eyebrows rose upwards. "That all she wanted to do was leave me because I made her life miserable, and one of the other men said mom did the same thing, and well…you all said it would be better if I just left Rosalinato die."

Mario stopped walking and she followed suit, he gave her a concerned look and slowly hugged her. "Come here, listen." He leaned back, patting her arms and looking into her eyes with a reassuring smile. " Rosalinahas never and will never say something like that. She loves you, okay? More than life itself." Her heart lifted up and her eyes began to water.

"But I-"

"As much as you say she's your lifeline, you are hers. I hear her say that all the time. I don't think I, or anyone else, would try to take her away from you-and I know for a fact she would never allow that to happen. Not in this world at least, not for all of the grief that you or those friends of yours may have ever given her."

"It felt…so real…"

"You said it yourself just a few minutes ago, Heaven . We're in the middle of Hell, so who knows what tricks that Samil or his demon followers will try. All you need to do is listen to yourself and follow your own way, what you know is correct. If ever you have doubts, concerns, or anything else…let me know. Okay? You're my sister too."

She sniffed and nodded back, hugging him tight. "Thank you." Everyone was relying on her to be stable, so she had to be exactly that. There was no time for grief, no time for falling or succumbing to her fears. Yes, a part of her had been afraid of losing Trina whenever she got married, and a big part of her was still dependent on her.

This was to the point that when Rosalina first started dating, she never got along with the men Rosalina would bring home. The fact that she'd been friends with Sofia when Rosalina and Mario had been friends made things difficult when the two began to date. She finally became okay with it, but a part of her was still afraid.

Samil had to know this, and with that, he had to be using that fear to get to her.

It wasn't going to work.


	12. Ch 12: Alternate Reality

"Is anyone else feeling incredibly freaked out right now?" Daisy asked from behind. Heaven looked over her shoulder to see her friend rubbing her shoulders and looking around. "It feels like walls are closing in around me, but we're in an open area."

"Okay let's take a break," She replied. They needed to stop anyway, her feet were getting tired and they didn't seem any closer to their destination than when they first started. "I don't feel anything strange." She looked back to see a strange mist drifting from her friend's mouth. Her eyebrows rose as the others took a step back from the bewildered girl.

"What? What's wrong?" Daisy felt her hair, then moved her trembling fingers to her lips. Blood began to pool beneath her and a red dot appeared on Daisy's forehead. Heaven had to squint her eyes before she could tell the dot resembled a target.

"Shit!" Without hesitation, she tackled her friend and heard something whooshing above her. When she looked up, she saw a pair of scissors stuck in a dead tree, shot as though it were an arrow. "What the…"

"Crap, I missed." Daisy answered. Heaven looked down but the girl shook her head, it hadn't been her. The others began to stammer and Heaven felt a dangerous presence nearby. "Over here, Star."

She helped Daisy to her feet and looked over to see an identical version of her friend, but with some changes. The woman looked years older, had longer orange hair and was wearing a jet black sweater, black pants and dark black boots. She had a scar under her eye and a bullet hole in her forehead.

"And if you're asking 'what the hell'…you're in Hell, sweetheart." She extended a bow and attached a knife to it as though it were an arrow. "And I've got an upgrade."

Daisy did a double take and narrowed her eyes, stuttering to regain her composure. "Who the-what the hell are you? You can't be me. I'm fucking alive."

"I got news for you, bitch. I'm you-but I'm not you. Simply put, you could never be a serial killer now could you?" The woman slid her tongue slowly along her lips. Hea6could feel shivers running down her spine and gagged as Daisy took a step back. "Unless of course, your dear old mother decided to be a little whore."

"Let me explain," A man answered. The woman rolled her eyes and lowered the bow, growling as she looked over her shoulder.

" _Must_ you interrupt?"

A man with long, shaggy brown hair and jet black clothing stepped into view. He was wearing glaring at them with dark black eyes and a vicious scowl. "You can call me the Pariah."

Studying him, Heaven could see his body riddled with bullet holes, a clear indicator of how he perished. "You died violently, didn't you?" Heaven's heart pulsed as her heart began to quake. "You're in hell, you must have done something…"

"I was a cold hearted killer. Unlike a version of me that existed due to different paths and choices being taken." The man tensed and released a shuddering groan. "A version of me that disgusts me to even know of. The fact that he was-" The man's nostrils flared out and his eyes appeared to bulge as his head leaned back. "Inside that woman. She's been a thorn in both our sides."

"Different version? What are you talking about?"

The elder Daisy flipped her hair back and curled her lips into a frigid smirk. "You had a thought recently, didn't you? Something about multiple dimensions? The world is something like that, but different universes aren't really a thing." Tori held her hand out in front of her friends, glaring protectively as the woman reached up and swept her bangs from her hair. "However different versions of people do exist based off different life choices and events that occurred in their life. Take Daisy's mother, for example, abusive and angry at the world-something else made her that way long ago." Daisy rubbed her arm and glanced off to the side. "Whereas my version that woman embarked on a path long ago that turned her into a whorish little slut."

The woman put her hand to her chest, chuckling loudly. "That of course affected me. The bitch had the audacity to accidentally dial me while fucking two men that were not my father!" Heaven's eyes widened and Daisy gasped out. "This fucked with my brain, so I killed her. Stabbed her to pieces." The woman laughed violently and Daisy stepped forward, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"I would never do that!" Thunder roared in the skies as Daisy took another step towards the woman. Heaven quickly pulled her back and met the lady's vicious glare. "I don't care if my mother is abusive, I wouldn't sink to murder!"

"Oh I know, but don't worry sweetie another version of you already has shot out the heart of that abuser. It wasn't me, I did far worse." She saw Waluigi shoot Daisy a worried look and the older woman's smirk grew. "Oh Waluigi , sweet and gentle, loving Waluigi ." He turned towards her, narrowing his eyes and flaring his nostrils. "Settle down Wolfie. It isn't your fault you're so oblivious. Then again, there were so many signs."

Tori cleared her throat and once more took a stance in front of Daisy. "You said you were a serial killer. You're obviously older, so…" She watched a flicker of hate shine through the woman's eyes and her smirk fell into a virulent scowl.

"I'd been doing my job as a good citizen and ridding the world of women who were having affairs on their husbands. I had a base in a Mystic Jungle Kingdom's casino." Heavenpressed her lips together as the woman took a dangerous step towards her. "I wasn't aware your pathetic sister was a CSI agent there, working my case." Her muscles tensed as the woman turned around and started walking back to the man. "The woman comes to Casino Forest and starts stirring up trouble. Just as I'm getting close to my next victim, she decides to be a fucking sister again."

"What does that have to do with anything?" She scrunched her nose and meshed her eyebrows together as the woman turned her head over her shoulder.

"You really are naïve aren't you? You were my last victim, or you should have been."

"What?" The woman groaned loudly and turned back towards her, slouching her shoulders.

"You had an affair at some point of time, get it through your head. I was going to murder you, but that cop sister came to your fucking rescue like she always does and saved your ass at the last possible fucking second!" She swung her arm up, throwing her knife at Tori, but a strong gust of wind blew the projectile off to the side.

Heaven looked over to see Daisy's eyes glowing white, her hair and clothes were flying, and her face was twisted in anger. "I don't care what you say, you're just another demon in hell and I want you to shut up with your tricks!" She stepped forward and the woman cackled. "There's no such thing as alternate realities or pathways anyway, I'm not falling for it."

"Oh you can think that all you like sweetheart, but we both existed." Heaven could feel the woman's cold eyes digging into her. Feeling rather uncomfortable, she took a slow step back and moved almost entirely behind Mario . "Don't think you're the only one to turn killer either, Daisy. There are some things that remain consistent through all realities, such as codependency and personality defects."

Daisy turned to Heaven, who grew confused and frightened at the same time. Her friend shook her head and looked back to the older demon. "Just shut up! We won't listen to you!" Daisy swept her hand through the air and a blast of lightning streamed down, striking the woman in multiple places.

As the smoke cleared, the woman stepped out, her skin was burnt and steam was radiating from her body. "Shit that hurts, but it's going to take more than three bolts to kill me here in hell." She lifted the bow and fired off another pair of scissors, cutting into Daisy's shoulder. The girl screamed and fell back, grasping her shoulder as blood began to rush from her. "Ah. The scent of blood-it feels good to be released from the cage. I must give thanks to Samil…Right Lemmy?"

"Whatever," the man remarked. Mario gave him an upwards nod and narrowed his eyes.

"What's your story? The way you said it, you implied a different version of you slept with…" Mario's voice choked and Heaven watched his body shiver. " Rosalina?"

"Yeah." Lemmy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "The thing with that is in that life you were murdered, Rosalina joined a gang and fell in love with the leader." Lemmy snapped his fingers as Heaven looked to Mario with a growing sense of anxiety. "That was the version of me that didn't kick Pauline to the curb and didn't become a big time killer like his father wanted him to be. Unlike _him_ , however, I took the bitch and sold her into slavery." Mario tensed and slowly moved his hand towards the hilt of his blade.

"Careful Mario," Heaven whispered, "Don't waste your sword counts on them."

Lemmy pointed to the furious Daisy and cocked his head to the right. "It's this bitch that went after her, saving her life. Only, this was after she handed Rosalina right over to me."

"What!" Mario roared out angrily and glared violently at Daisy. Seeing where this was heading, Heaven wasted no time forming her light sword and plunging it into Lemmy's chest. The man let out a grunt and turned his eyes to the blade.

"Son of a bitch."

"I don't care what some other version of my friend did to my sister in another life, reality, or whatever the hell it is. I don't care what other realities there are, and even still everyone probably realizes that nobody…not even the angel of death himself…fucks with my sister!"

The others stepped back as Lemmy's skin began to glow bright white and separate, turning into ash dropping onto the ground. "Funny." His voice grew hoarse as his eyes moved to the back of his head. "It amazes me how attached you can be to her, yet in so many different realities you always forget."

"Who the hell gives a flying rat's ass?" Heaven swept her hair from her face and yanked the sword from his chest. "All that matters is me, I am the only version of me there is. Or at least, to myself, the true version, and I will never forget what she means to me. So fuck you, asshole, you can go to fucking hell!" She slashed her blade through his neck and growled as his body collapsed into a mound of ash.

"Uh, Heaven?" Iggy's voice trembled and she threw her angry glare over her shoulder.

"What!"

"We are-"

"I know we're in hell, it's a figure of speech! Now about that other person."

She looked towards Daisy and saw her standing calmly beside the older version of herself, frozen in a block of ice. "I took care of her already." Daisy pat the ice block and grinned. "She couldn't withstand the blizzard."

"Fine." Heaven cracked her neck and walked towards the woman, turning the sword of light into a white gun. "Then let me take care of her." Daisy raised an eyebrow as she pressed the muzzle of the gun against the surface of the ice over the woman's heart and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

A laser shot through the ice, into the woman's chest, and out the ice block. Instantly the ice melted and the woman fell to her knees, clutching her chest and shivering from the cold. "W-What have you done?" Her hair fell before her face, covering all but her left eye. Heaven frowned at her, watching as the demon's body started to crack. "I see…"

"Just shut up and die."

"Yes." The woman laughed violently and threw her head back, pushing her hand through her hair. "There it is, that closeness to your sister-that cling that you have. Don't worry Heaven , this isn't the last you'll see of other realities. I can't wait until you succumb to that much darker and insane side of your heart."

"That won't happen."

"So innocent…so sweet…" The woman moved her hands in front of her face, peering down as her fingers began to drop off. "Maybe you yourself are incapable of murder, but if pushed hard enough. If something dreadful were to happen." Heaven narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist, vanishing the gun from her hand. "No. Not to you but to the one thing that means the most to you. If your entire world crumbled before your very eyes…you would. You would go insane."

"Are you dead yet?" Mario asked. In one decisive blow, his heavy sword snapped into the woman's back. She let out a grunt and Heaven's eyes widened as her body turned a deep read and became absorbed into his blade.

" Mario! What did you do? She was dying!"

"Well she was annoying the shit out of me." He sheathed his blade and turned his eyes onto Daisy. Daisy furrowed her brow and everyone grew silent as the girl stepped forward, moving her hands up to her chest.

" Mario, believe me, I would _never_ hand Rosalina over to a criminal. I would never do so knowingly. She's my-we're _friends_ , Mario ." Daisy stretched her arm out, motioning to Heaven . "I would never try to kill her either."

"Whatever." He turned away and began walking. "Let's keep moving. I'm getting pissed off with Samil's tricks."


	13. Ch 13: The Bridge of Truths

The group made their first stop after some amount of time and sat in a semi-broken circle. Heaven leaned back against a rock and watched as Waluigi nursed Daisy's shoulder wound. Iggy and Mona were huddled together and Rango was studying his two guns.

Mario was away from the group, staring up into the blood red sky. Her lips sank into a frown and she bowed her head. "No matter how long it's been that sky never changes, does it?" She asked. He glanced over his shoulder as the others turned their gazes to him.

"No it doesn't. Throws you off." He crossed his arms and drew out a heavy sigh. "I've walked around a bit further down the path, there's only one way to go but we're blocked."

"By what?" Rango stood up and turned his gaze down the long winding path. "Is it something I can have My puppet blast away?" Mario's hands fell to his hips and slid into his pockets. His frown deepened and his head shook from side to side.

"No." His calmness was alarming, but Heaven wasn't going to say anything. It was possible he was just trying to relax. "It's cliff." Her chest tightened and the others shouted out in alarm. "Our path runs right over it and there's no way around. I'm trying to figure out if it's something Samil did or just a natural part of Hell's fun, twisted scenery."

He scoffed and made his way towards the group, kneeling beside them and hanging his arm over his bent knee. "It could be Samil," Iggy replied, "We've seen the guy do just about everything from controlling the dead to pulling demons out of their cages just so they can attack us."

Daisy moved her hand away from her shoulder, sighing at the covered wound. "Like that twisted version of me? She said she and that other guy had been trapped in some part of Hell and Samil freed them for his purpose. They weren't regular demons, they had to have been alive at one point, but I don't know how that's even possible…"

"I think that was just a trick." Waluigi waved through the air and turned away. "I can't imagine all the different realities that woman was talking about. Nothing to worry about."

"No it's something to worry about, Waluigi. Just about anything will be thrown at us. We _have_ to be alert and aware."

"She's right," someone said. Heaven's head shot up and her eyes narrowed on an approaching figure. It was the stranger that had been helping them on this journey. "Keep your mind and eyes open to every possible thing you may run into. Hell is like a world all its own, the same logic and rules that apply to Earth do not apply here."

"Are you here to confuse us some more?" Mona inquired of him. The man chuckled softly and Heaven rose to her feet. Mona had a point, every time this man came around there was something that they had to deal with. "I don't like this, we've been through hell since we saw you last."

Daisy rolled her head to the side and gave the girl a blank stare. "No shit, Mona."

"I can't help the phrases, okay, it's hard getting used to this."

"Leave it be," the man's calm demeanor surrounded the group and enticed them. Heaven watched as Daisy's wound closed up, then saw the rigid and tense muscles of her friends go down. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to transform into me, mont. It would certainly be revealing."

Mona bowed her head and her face turned red. "I can't. I tried, but it's the one thing I can't do." The man shrugged and Heaven reclined her head, her lips parted as an idea came rushing to her mind.

"Are you God?"

"God?" The man ran his hand through his hair, chuckling nervously. "Now that would be something, but no. I am not God. He cannot physically walk or enter Hell. There are some things he can do to influence things down here, to watch what goes on down here, but that's about it."

"Maybe he's an angel," Rango remarked. The man raised an eyebrow and exhaled sharply as the group rose up to their feet. Waluigi rubbed his chin and studied the man closely.

"I thought we established he was a demon. A strange demon helping us."

"Enough of this," Heaven grumbled at them and brushed past them. Annoyed by their constant prodding, she ignored them and moved straight for the man. "You usually don't show up unless there's something you need to tell us, so what is it?"

The man furrowed his brow at the group and closed his eyes. "You all are so divided where you are, harboring things and filled with regrets. You're a team and you act like it on the surface, but what about within? You need to be a completely united force in order to face Samil head-on."

"So what, we have to be an open book?"

"Maybe, but maybe not necessarily." He locked his wrists behind his back and slowly walked down the path. Heaven watched him for a second and glanced to the side as her friends stood up behind her. "Are you coming?" She groaned and hurried after the man, her friends followed close behind.

"Things are a little tense right now, I admit, but we're still a team."

"But you do not trust one another and you're not honest with each other as you should be. Samil can and will play off this, and he's already tried multiple times to separate you. Fortunately, some of you have that sense of honor and won't allow for that separation…but don't think it will hold for long if you don't fix the root of the problem."

"It doesn't matter," Mario walked up beside the man, "We can still take him. We can still beat him." They stopped at the edge of a cliff. A wrinkle formed between Heaven's eyebrows as she looked at the continued path on the other side. The man pointed his hand out to Sinjin's sword and looked into his eyes.

"There is one small crack on that blade, you took a life with it. That demon was already dying, though, you didn't need to kill it." Mario bowed his head and closed his hands into his palm. "You were angry, but was it with the demon?"

"No."

"You harbor something. Something old and long forgotten, by even the afflicted and the affliction. That resentment and the pride within you will sooner kill you than anything Samil throws at you."

"That said." The man lifted a finger and turned to the others. "Some of you hold secrets, doubts, regrets and resentments yourselves. Even deeply rooted fears and denials." Heaven shifted uncomfortably and felt his eyes on her, as though boring into her soul. "In order to continue onwards, you all need to be open with one another. To trust each other and to be honest. It's difficult, but you'll have to find a way."

"Is that why this cliff is here?" Mario motioned to the giant gap and pressed his lips together. "You put it here?" Everyone faced the Cliffside and Heaven held her breath as the man slowly shook his head.

"No, I has always been there. The bridge, obviously, is out. It vanishes after it lets all that intends to cross it onto the other side. It is the bridge of truths."

"The what?"

"It will only begin to appear when all those intending to cross reveal a hidden truth, a resentment or a regret to the other traveler." Heaven smirked at the man and he made eye contact with her, lifting his eyebrows and returning a sly smirk of his own. "I am not intending to cross, I am merely a guide. You will know who I am when the time is right."

The man looked up to the sky, his face tensed and his muscles grew rigid. "I am needed elsewhere. Remember what I said." Before anyone could react, he was gone. Silence surrounded the group as Heaven turned to the cliff, her chest ached as she took in a shaky breath of air.

"Great. The bridge of truths…" She looked over her shoulder and Mario scoffed while the others continued to gaze down at the endless pit below. "Anyone want to go first?" She didn't want to do this, but if it had to be done she would, no matter how much she hated the thought of her friends knowing so much about her. "Anyone? I don't want to go first."

"I don't think any of us do," Iggy muttered. Heaven frowned at him and crossed her arms as he let out a heavy sigh. "I'll go." He stood at the very edge and turned to the rest. "I…didn't come here for Rosalina like you guys." Heaven's eyebrows lifted and her hand rose up to her chest. "I came here because Heaven jumped in the portal. The truth is, I'm not friendly with Rosalina like the rest of you are becoming. I really do want to help save her though." He took a deep breath and held it as the others looked upon him with a sense of disappointment. "I have a problem with controlling myself, that's why these guns are a test of control and patience. Like Waluigi, I do have some aggression, mostly where my grandmother is concerned. I'm angry with a lot of things."

"Like what?" Heaven lowered her hand and watched as his soft brown eyes looked into hers. She didn't like him in the romantic sense, only because there was someone else that she already cared for. At the same time, she appreciated his loyalty to her. "You don't have to be angry with anyone."

"I'm angry with myself. I have problems with lust and whatever. I'm angry with God, with the Devil, with Samil. To the point I wish I could tell Samil to fuck himself and go to hell and have it actually mean something."

"What caused this?" Waluigi asked. "I mean after all, if you didn't jump in because you wanted to save Heaven, why do you hate Samil so much?"

"I've seen him before. Before all of this." The others exchanged concerned looks as Iggy's fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were beginning to turn white. "He came to claim my father and brothers when I was a boy. We all lived in Sunset Heights when I was growing up. Me, my brothers Ludwig and Roy, my dad. Mom and Grandma." A vein bulged from his neck and Tori slowly reached over, putting her hand to his shoulder.

"It's okay, Iggy."

"No it isn't." He lifted his head up to the sky, his eyes glazed over as his body began to tremble. "She murdered them. Mom. She killed all three of them, poisoning their breakfast. Hurricane Rosie was coming and they were too proud to leave, so she killed them. Grandma and I watched, then we watched as Samil rose up to send them into the afterlife…but again, they didn't want to leave."

Tori withdrew her hand and took a step back, gasping softly. "What happened?" Blood started to drip from Iggy's hands and he sneered.

"He cursed them. They became ghosts, forced to stay in that mansion for eternity. Mom was arrested and I moved to Koopa's Kingdom with Grandma. We came here because it's where Mom's family used to be. Koopa is her maiden name, and of course Grandma just _had_ to change our names over to that."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that." Heaven reached over, giving him a friendly hug. She felt his body tense and glanced off at the cliff, the bridge hadn't even appeared yet.

"It's stupid, the reason I don't really like Rosalina." He brushed his finger across his nose and scoffed. "Petty, actually. Her name is identical to that hurricane that hit the Dawn Kingdom not a week later. The very reason that mom killed them."

"A big part of why I want to kill Samil is because of them. I know he still holds a part of them hostage and if he won't release them then he may as well revive them. I don't want them to be ghosts…"

Heaven took a few steps back and froze when she heard what sounded like the ground shifting. Iggy twisted around and a small block of land formed at his feet, hanging just over the cliff.

"That's one," Waluigi stated. He moved over to Iggy and pat the man on the back. "Hey, it's okay. When we get to Samil we'll deal with him. If your primary goal isn't on setting Rosalina free, that's okay, in order to get your revenge on that guy we'll have to set her free."

"I want to save her too, don't get me wrong."

"I understand," Heaven replied softly. Iggy nodded and moved beside the rest of the group. She was trying to process everything Iggy had said, but it was difficult. This was a side of him she'd never seen, or even known about. Yes, she always wondered why his grandmother was so angry and where his parents were, but this was unlike what she thought. "We'll do what we can, Iggy. Samil isn't going to affect our families anymore."

"Sounds like he was just doing his job at that point," Rango chuckled in vain. "I mean, he is the guy that has to send spirits on their way to heaven or hell."

Iggy huffed and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care if he was just doing his job or not. He's going to free my father and brothers and he's going to let Rosalina go." Iggy looked to Heaven and gave her a swift nod. "You have my word on that."

She smiled and felt a flicker of pride inside. "That's good." Her body relaxed as she turned her head over her shoulder, gazing down at the portion of the bridge. "There's still a long way to go, so…who's next? Mona?"

"I don't have anything to hide," Mona twirled the bottom of her hair nervously while Daisy shot her a skeptical look. The girl frowned at the bridge and let her shoulders fall. "Oh alright, fine. I'll go…"


	14. Ch 14: The Cost of Separation

Mona stood before the group, trembling as they studied her. Heaven contemplated trying to make her feel better somehow. At the same time, she was losing patience with the idea of the 'bridge of truth'. Every minute spent was one more minute she could feel her sister slipping away. Patience had to be shown, however, as this had to be an emotional time for everyone.

She watched Daisy walk up beside Mona and reach over to take the girl's hand. Mona's eyes held a grain of fear and her free hand was rapidly stroking her hair. "Mona, would you like me to go first?" Daisy asked. "I can."

"No, I just don't know how to go about this. What I have to say, what I want to say…" Heaven folded her arms and leaned sideways against a nearby tree, her gaze flickered to Mario who was studying the girls with a kindred look. He always seemed to be comfortable with the girls more than the guys, which shockingly included Daisy. Distrustful yes, but he rarely spoke ill of the girls.

She looked back towards Mona, who now held Daisy's hands in hers and was looking into her eyes. If it made her feel more at ease, then it was good. "You've always been a good friend to me, Daisy. I don't know why. Everyone knows I'm not the popular person in the group."

"So?"

"I don't want to lose your friendship. I value it too much, just like I value Pauline's friendship. Rosalina's too…" Heaven's eyebrows curled upwards and she watched curiously as Mona pulled away and held her wrist in front of her waist. "I know I have to be honest." Her voice broke and her eyelids closed over. "You know I've hung out with all of you less and less. That's because I'm tired of all the negativity."

Daisy's brow furrowed and the corners of her lips dipped downwards as mo6 sniffed. "First it was Rosalina. I would watch how all of you would say she had no talent, but she had talent. It's just that you guys didn't think anything besides acting, singing or dancing was talent…but Rosalina was an athlete!" Heaven smiled at the girl and dusted off her shoulder.

"She's in the top division in her cross country team at college," Heaven stated, "One of the fastest runners around. She would, and could run circles around all of us." She rolled her head to the side and breathed in slowly as Mona and Daisy looked towards her. "It's because she's a police officer like Dad, she has to be in tip top shape."

"That's right." Mona moved her forearms over her waist and sucked in another deep breath of air. "I went to her one day after you guys gave her a hard time, I told her I knew she was a skilled athlete. See, I'm a strong swimmer, and when I told Rosalina that, she took me to the community pool so I could show her." Her lips curved up and her eyes turned to a dreamy gaze.

Heaven lowered her arms and parted her lips, but was too astonished to speak. She'd never known this relationship even existed, even though it did make sense. "When I go off to college, I'm going to get on my school's swim team."

"You should!" Daisy proclaimed while rubbing Mona's back. "I bet you'd do great."

"Thanks." Mona bowed her head, her eyes glistened with tears as her hair slid in front of her face. "But the truth is, because of that and because of Pauline…Neither Rosalina or Pauline ever cared about popularity. They never cared about attention that much, and only put themselves and others before attention. I see that and I want to be friends with people like that."

Heaven looked to Waluigi as he spoke up. A wrinkle formed between his eyebrows and frown lines indented at the corners of his mouth. "So you're saying what, you don't want to be our friend anymore?"

"No, I'm saying that while I really value your friendship, I can't be friends with people who don't value people like me…" She started to stutter and began to sound uncertain with where her train of thought was heading. "I was slowly weeding myself away from you guys and I'm sorry, I know it's unfair, I just-"

"We understand," Daisy gave her a reassuring hug and pat her on the back. "I understand." Daisy took a deep breath and looked into her eyes with a subtle smile. "Never think you have to be our friend just to make us happy, but I'll always consider you a friend, okay? I know the whole popularity thing is…crap, especially since I'm responsible for a lot of that nonsense. I'm trying to get better. We all are, okay?" Mona nodded and wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"Thank you, Daisy…"

"Yeah," Rango spoke softly and his eyebrows drifted upwards. "You mean a lot to us, Mona. All of us." Heaven nodded and glanced at Sinjin, gauging his response. He was leaning to the left some and staring off at the cliff.

A sharp exhale shot from her and her eyes darted to the bridge as a small block appeared for Mona. Daisy motioned the girl off and watched as Mona hurried to Rango's side, letting him hug her. "Okay," Jade began, "I think it's my turn."

"This should be interesting," Heaven heard Mario mutter. Her eyebrows meshed together and her lips flattened as her hands slid onto her hips. She tapped her index finger on her waist and shook her head at him. "Not that I have anything against Daisy." He trailed off and rolled his eyes.

The girl spoke up, seemingly ignoring him. Heaven was interested as well to hear Daisy's confessional. After all, this was the one person who sort of fueled the whole 'popularity' issue-having been the first friend of the group. Everyone flocked to her and Waluigi years ago, long before Heaven ever met them and even before Rosalina had.

This intrigued her further as she studied Mario. She hoped he would abide by the rule, but then, he didn't have a choice at this point. Her heart froze and her body grew numb with the realization that she didn't have a choice in the matter either.

"Mona, you and I aren't so different with our stuff." Daisy held her breath and Heaven's gaze slid carefully towards her. She felt a trickle of sweat running along her neck as her body began to heat up. "A lot of you know my mom's abusive, like highly, and Dad's the only person that keeps her from getting as bad as she can."

Her neck bent forward slightly and her eyes slanted. Daisy's hands closed and her breathing became shallow. "I took a lot of my anger out on other people because of that. A lot of undeserving people. My truth?" She lifted her head up and started to smile. "My truth is that I didn't jump in that portal to follow after anyone, I jumped in because I want to save Rosalina." Her eyes grew hazy and turned to Mario, who simply averted her gaze. "She's my best friend now, and has been for a little over a year."

"When did this happen?" Heaven stuttered over her words and stumbled back as she attempted to process Daisy's confession. Mario shrugged and didn't respond, though the look in his eyes gave away his knowledge of the matter. "I don't understand, when did you and Rosalina become friends Daisy?"

"I hide a lot." Daisy slouched her shoulders and kicked a small rock over the cliff. "I put up a shroud, and yeah I formed my inner circle of friends as we made a name for ourselves." She motioned to Mona, looking the girl straight in the eyes. "I want to separate from that image as much as Mona does."

Daisy paused and glanced over her shoulder for a brief second before taking a long and deep breath. "Rosalina was the only person besides Waluigi to see right through me. For all of the grief I gave her over the years-and I did that because she just didn't care. I was jealous. She didn't care what people thought of her, anyone could attack her verbally and it would roll off her shoulders-" Heaven heard Mario scoff and shook her head once more knowing the reason why.

However Rosalina's boyfriend was never to be spoken of, not even in Hell. It would not surprise her if they met up with Rosalina's first boyfriend here, though, considering the man had been murdered.

"Physically, she would fight back. I think Waluigi remembers that well." Waluigi rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously while Iggy and Rango whistled a tune. "Rosalina did kick all three of your asses by herself, but she always was skilled at martial arts."

Daisy closed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "There was a time when Waluigi was away on a trip and Dad was gone, mom beat the shit out of me. I went to this park and stayed there for hours." Heaven's heart pulled and she frowned as she listened to Daisy's voice shake. The girl's hands trembled until she pushed them into her pockets. "I yelled at some kids, scared them away."

"That's not good," Heaven clicked her tongue and Daisy chuckled softly. She turned her eyes skyward and lifted her shoulders.

"It's not, especially since they ran to the nearest police officer they could find." Daisy swept her fingers through the tip of her hair and shook her head. "By some coincidence it was Rosalina, patrolling at her father's request while he was at his office." Heaven's lips turned to an oval and Mario's eyebrow shot up. "She found me and for some reason that to this day I still don't know…didn't drag me off to her father for processing, even though I basically assaulted those children."

"Rosalina's nice like that sometimes." Heaven laughed once as Daisy swept away her tears.

"She could have arrested me. Anyone else and she'd have taken them downtown, but instead she just told me to…her words; 'shape the fuck up'."

Heaven laughed and Mario's lips curved into a subtle smirk. It sounded so much like something Rosalina would have said that she couldn't help but to shed a tear. Daisy looked off to the side and lifted her shoulders. "She told me that I needed to stop putting up a front, that she could tell something was wrong with me."

"She and Dad are police officers." Heaven straightened herself and smiled softly. "In that line of work you're required to know how to study a person's body language, gestures, vocal tones…the whole nine yards."

"Right." Police officers were required to be observant, so that was something Rosalina developed over time as Luigi taught her to do. "I told her about mom and how defenseless I felt at the time and she offered to teach me some martial arts…a good self-defense thing and a calming thing."

"Is your mom still an issue?" Mario asked. Heaven was startled by his question, yet relieved at the same time that he'd even spoken up. "I'm surprised Rosalina hasn't told you to report her for domestic violence."

"She has, several times, but…" A flicker of fear and hesitation shone in Daisy's eyes before she shook her head. "It's my mom, I don't want to do that to her and dad. He won't even divorce her, but I think she's just got him trapped in the relationship. He's a shell of what he was when I was a child."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that. I think you know she'd do anything to help you."

"I know." Daisy took a deep breath as Waluigi came over to take her hand in his. She cuddled up close to him and set her head on his shoulder. "I'll get help soon, but I'm eighteen…I just have to move out."

"Your mom will still try to control you," Heaven stated, "But let's not talk anymore about that if you're uncomfortable."

"I appreciate that."

"Thank you for talking about this stuff." A new segment of the bridge appeared, so Heaven held her breath as she and Mario both turned their eyes onto Waluigi and Rango. They were next as far as the two of them were concerned. Heaven wanted to go last, but she wasn't sure if she'd have to contend with Mario for that position.

Things were getting a bit too emotional for her, despite she found nothing wrong with what the girls had stated. She felt terrible for Iggy family as well and wanted to find them whenever they got through this mess. She had to remember their names, but would be sure to put forth a memorial for them.

Ray, Miles and Louie Prescott. That was one to take care of. Next would be finding a way to help Daisy out with the situation regarding her mother, but it was always best not to pry. Then making Mona feel like her friendship was valued-which it was.

At the same time, Heaven understood both Mona's and Daisy's yearning for separation. Or, at the very least, separation from the image of popularity. "Daisy, what will you do as far as future schooling goes?" Daisy glanced over and shrugged.

"I wanted to go into counseling like my father. Mona told me that I had to get an acceptable diploma from somewhere though, because most universities don't take Hollywood Arts seriously, considering HA only focuses on the arts." Heaven was blown away once more by Daisy. She hadn't expected the girl to know anything about that.

It was comforting to know though, so maybe they would understand some of the things she had to say regarding her own life. Still, she was neither ready nor confident enough to talk. "You want to go next, Heaven?"

"No. Waluigi or Rango can go." The men looked towards one another while Mario huffed at them. Heaven was certain this couldn't end well, judging by the looks on each of their faces. "It's got to happen sometime, guys." Primarily she was talking to Mario, but she had to know about the other two.


	15. Ch 15: Secret

Heaven was feeling more confident knowing her sister had shown Daisy and Mona there was more to life than the little circle they lived in. As for Waluigi and Rango, she had a sinking suspicion there was something more-and that Rosalina hadn't had such a positive impact on them. While she was not sure why, she was eager to hear as Waluigi moved along the bridge and gazed off the edge of the final piece.

"Almost halfway there," he muttered while moving off the bridge. "It's a deep way down. Hell, I can't even see the bottom." He swept his hair back and studied the group with an anxious look. "I won't give you a sob story, I know the things I've done that have fucked people over." She watched his eyes drift to Mario, who simply crossed his arms and leaned back. "Not the first, not the last."

Heaven raised an eyebrow as Waluigi shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes. "I'm an angry person, that much has been established. In my anger I've let people down, I hate to admit anything but I know I have to say it's my own insecurities." He swept his thumb across his nose and lifted his eyelids halfway. " Daisy always seems like the insecure one that thinks I'll cheat, but I psychoanalyze everything she does. I'm a control freak…"

Heaven's eyes widened as Daisy started to tense. Her lips parted and her heart began to pound watching him scratch his head. "I've always had to have things my way, and even now it feels like that sometimes." He pushed his hands into his pocket and looked away as if trying to distract himself from his thoughts.

"That day I restrained Rosalina? Lied to her father? I forced Iggy and Rango to get involved-and I know she was trying to get back at me for some stupid petty little bullshit I did to her."

"What?" Mario's voice deepened and Heaven felt her muscles tighten. Waluigi moved his head back and sighed heavily. "What did you do to her?"

"She called me out on my breaking up with Daisy so I called her a talentless bitch that couldn't get a guy even if she tried." Heaven's stomach lurched forward as Mario's eyes flared up with anger. "I didn't mean it, but…I was stupid."

"I can't believe you did that!" Daisy cried.

"I know. She even apologized for spreading those rumors in anger. I…never did apologize, and I want to be able to get that chance." Heaven could feel her own anger coursing through her, she wanted to snap his neck off but had to hold back on that urge.

She could see Mario fuming, his body was twitching and he looked ready to kill Waluigi on the spot. "It's over," Heaven muttered, "It's past. We have to move on and not let this come between us right now. If anything, for Rosalina." Mario's eyes darted to her and his chest expanded fully then collapsed as he let out an angry grunt. His muscles began to relax, but the anger hadn't left his eyes.

"Waluigi, you can apologize for your shit when we save her. We _still_ need to work together."

"I'm not through. There is something else." Waluigi made eye contact with Mario and breathed in deep as the man continued to burn him with his venemous gaze. "You guys should know something about me, a big source of my anger and why I blame my mother for everything. This was as much my fault as it was hers, and she's no excuse, but…" He looked away and his fists clenched tight.

Waluigi hesitated for a long period of time while everyone waited with eager anticipation. He shook his head and lowered his eyes to the ground. "When I was a kid, I had a best friend with the most amazing family. The parents were divorced and the dad moved away-Stormkyo or somewhere. There came a time when my best friend needed me-he was unable to relay a message to his brother, something that I could have, and should have done."

"Then what happened?" Mario replied gruffly. Waluigi clenched his eyes shut and Heaven leaned forward, her heart was racing.

"I was eight years old, the time of every mormon child's life where they are supposedly able to know the difference between right and wrong. My best friend wasn't mormon. Mom wasn't happy with this and forbade me to associate with him. We had an argument after he had a recent argument with his brother." Waluigi pressed his lips together and turned away sighing heavily. He waved his hand in the air and groaned softly.

"It was over some item that my friend thought his brother had taken from him-but in reality he'd lent it to me but forgot. The brother told my friend he hated him and never wanted to see him again, and then left with their dad. I told my friend I had the item, the airport was right next to me but I was still angry and mom was going to force more of the scripture on me if I associated with that family, so I…never returned it."

Heaven moved her hands to her mouth, "You could have stopped his brother from leaving? You could have stopped that argument?"

"Yeah." He turned his eyes to Daisy and smiled sadly. "I met Daisy after that, people started to notice us and we became cool. My friend and I didn't speak much after that, whenever he came around I ignored him. Must have looked bad once we let Rango into the fold?"

"No shit," Daisy crossed her arms and shook her head. "Anything else you want to say, Waluigi?"

"Yeah." Waluigi laughed nervously. Heaven could see beads of sweat glistening on his forehead. Her eyebrows rose as he turned away. "He had a sister, about Heaven's age, she liked to hang around all the time." When he said her age, it was due to his being nearly a year older than she was. "We got along well until I became too cool and popular to hang out with her anymore…I regret it now, but-" Heaven was instantly reminded of her own struggle with her once best friend, Alexia.

The poor girl even tried to take a class at school to get close to her after she left Moonlight High, she completely blew her off and the girl was gone. Mario never mentioned where Alexia went or what she was up to, but then, Heaven never asked.

"We all make bad decisions," Mario growled, "But it is good you can be honest." Waluigi nodded his head and looked back as another portion of the bridge appeared.

He soon traded places with Rango. Heaven thought he was a bit out of place, he had an awkward look on his face and was shifting his gaze left and right for a second before breathing a heavy sigh. "I don't have much to say. I don't have a murdered family, I didn't screw things up with a friend, I don't care about popularity. Especially since I'm not very popular…"

He tilted his head to the right and squinted his eyes. "I will admit that the reason I carry my puppet around with me is because he reminds me of my brother."

Mona gasped and smiled brightly at Rango. "You have a brother?" Rango stuttered for a moment and nodded.

"Had…he died several years ago-drowned in the family pool." Heaven shuddered at the thought of drowning and forced herself to shove away her own memories of the water. "I keep my puppet with me for that reason, but…I know I need to grow out of it."

"Might be a good idea," Mario remarked with a near cold tone. Heaven shot him a scolding look, but he simply brushed her off with a shrug. "I am sorry about your brother, though. It's hard to lose a sibling like that, and even the thought of losing a sibling that way can cause a lot of fear for someone." Heaven meshed her eyebrows together and scrunched her nose.

"Really?" She asked aloud. The others glanced over and she cleared her throat. "Sorry. Continue." She curled her finger over her lower lip and glanced off to the side. She didn't think Rosalina ever was afraid of having lost her, or nearly losing her.

"I need to learn to let go of him. Once I let go of him, that'll be the end of it. It's the only reason I'm so dependent on your puppet for." It made sense, and she could sympathize with him. It took a lot for him not only to admit to this but to attempt to let go.

Rango took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "There is one thing I need to confess to. Heaven, Mario, please don't hate me." Heaven snapped her gaze back and Mario raised an eyebrow. The man was already tense and he looked ready to jump the next person that pissed him off. "Okay I know I came here mainly because Mona rushed in, but the other part of it is guilt-and this guilt has been eating away at me for a couple years. I blamed , but that's…bad to my brother's memory."

"Get on with it," Mario grumbled. Heaven held her breath and tucked her thumbs into her belt. She saw the apologetic look in his eyes and began to fear what he was about to say.

"Remember when Rosalina was taken to the hospital that one time?" Heaven grew numb with fear at the memory of Rosalina smashing into all the stage props-the one thing that saved her life that day. Rosalina and Luigi swore to find the one responsible and take him to trial.

She was found to be five months pregnant at the time. Whoever had cut that cord could face serious legal issues, but there was not enough evidence or even a confession.

"Y-Yes. Rango, before you continue…" She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as her eyes drifted over to Mario. "Do you know what happened to Rosalina after that?"

"What?"

"She was five months pregnant. The stage props and everything saved her life, but the baby didn't make it." Rango began to pale and everyone else cried out in horror. "When I say my sister's strong, I mean it. She pushed through that miscarriage-always was my role model-but it did affect her. All of us." Heaven looked over to the others and pressed her lips together. "It pissed me off that Iggy was focused only on a date and no one else took it seriously. That miscarriage, I think legally, would have resulted in a murder charge."

His pale skin seemed to answer her question, but she didn't know why he would have done it. Instinctively, she moved over to Mario, who was nearly foaming at the mouth. She stepped behind him and moved her arms around his abdomen, causing him to growl out and tell her to let go of him.

Still holding on, she glared into Rango's eyes and let her silent tears fall down her cheeks. "What do you need to tell us Rango?" She was angry as hell, but now her attention was focused on keeping Mario from killing the boy. "Do you know who did that to her?"

"I-I just…I didn't know." Rango swept his tears away and lowered his arms. "If I knew I would never…It doesn't even matter why now, it seems so trivial." Heaven's heart burst and Mario broke free from her grasp with an angry roar.

"You fucking little bastard!"

"Mario stop! We need to stay a team, we're still a team no matter what. We need to concentrate on getting Rosalina back! Save the anger for later." Mario stopped in front of Rango, his fists clenched to the point of drawing blood and his teeth were grinding together. Rango shivered and took a small step back, whimpering as he looked back in time to see the bridge having another piece added to him.

She wanted to tear Rango apart just as much as he did, but there was literally no time left for this. They couldn't spend time angry with each other either, no matter how terrible this was. "Mario. Maybe you should just…" She took a deep breath, trying to calm her angry and frayed nerves. "We need to take some time to think and settle down."

"I don't need fucking time to settle down." Rango swallowed hard as Mario approached him slowly. "You want to know my problem? I _wish_ I could say I hate you, all of you, but I don't. Trust? I don't trust you worth a lick, and now I see why." Mario turned away from Rango and glared over at Waluigi. "And don't think you're so easily forgiven after your speil either, Waluigi."

"What?" Heaven shot a confused look at Waluigi, who appeared to shrink on the spot. "What does Beck's thing have to do with anything?"

"Mario was that friend," Waluigi replied in a small voice. Heaven's heart stopped and her lips separated to release a gasp. "I singlehandedly let his twin brother run off to Japan over a stupid argument."

"You now Alexia moved over there for a year or two as well," Mario remarked. Heaven's heart sank as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "You want the honest truth? Here it is. I have trouble stomaching all of you. Not just because of what Waluigi, but even before Star High you were all a clique. Before you knew Heaven and Raoslina, all of you were too popular to deal wit anyone. I tried, hell my sister even tried to talk to you and all you ever did was make her feel unwelcome." Mario narrowed his eyes at them and pointed to Heaven. "When Alexia tried to talk to Heaven that one time, going back to Star High, you people literally shoved her out of the way. She came back home after a while, but she hasn't been confident around other people anymore."

"We didn't know," Rango whimpered. Mario rolled his eyes and growled.

"Saying 'we didn't know' is no excuse, you damn well know to treat people better. Or you should, anyway! Just as Waluigi, apparently kids know right from wrong at just eight years old." Mario brushed his hand through his hair, growling lowly as the others bowed their heads. "The cold hard truth is that I'm willing to work with all of you because I know we have to be a team if we hope to get my fiance back in one piece, I can't trust you to be around that easily but I can damn well try. As for friendship? Don't get your hopes up."

Heaven was speechless, and despite knowing he wasn't talking to her in any way, she could feel the impact of his rage hitting the others. At first she thought maybe the sin, Wrath, would be drawn to them.

"You have to calm him down." Rosalina's voice echoed in her head and she quickly turned to see Rosalina's spirit standing beside her. Her eyes were soft and concerned, frown lines were embedded into the corners of her mouth and her cheekbones were sunken.

"He's angry about the baby and about the past. As for the baby, he knows I've moved on-he has too, but that reopened so many wounds...Then there's Alexia. She left to be with their dad when their mom abandoned them a couple years ago…he's been blaming everything on your friends ever since Jon moved to Japan to be with their father. She's the only one to come back."

"He's never mentioned it."

"Mario's a calm person usually, you'd never know something bothers him until it boils over. Sometimes he just needs to be reminded what's important…"

"Yeah…" She took a deep breath and watched another piece of the bridge come up. "Mario." He stopped and looked over with a subtle frown.

"Rosalina needs you. Alexia needs you. They're important right now, this isn't. This anger, I know it hurts-I feel it too, but we need to focus on what's important."

He furrowed his brow and studied her for a minute before sighing heavily. "I know…I don't usually lose it, I just-"

"It'll be okay, Mario." She moved forward, holding her breath as she looked back to the vision of her sister. "Besides. It's my turn anyway…"


End file.
